


One Shots

by Kirthal



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock (TV), Sons of Anarchy, Supernatural
Genre: Avengers Family, Crime Families, F/M, Gen, Irish Werewolves, Lestrade Sister, Mutant Powers, Werewolves, Winchester Sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-03-30 14:32:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 45,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13953627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirthal/pseuds/Kirthal
Summary: A series of one shots revolving around different characters from multiple different fandoms.





	1. Homecoming (Julie Lestrade)

I pulled myself to a stop at the corner, knowing that if I went any further, I would be caught. Seemed my brother had finally found a reliable body to work the cases that he couldn’t figure out. Unfortunately for the both of them, the murders that were beginning to pile up were not of any nature that they would be able to handle. It reeked for something supernatural, dark and evil. A level that I hadn’t dealt with in a long time. Swallowing down the worry that was constantly creeping into the back of my mind over the whole thing, I took a second to steady my breathing, appearing as normal as possible as I casually slipped into a crowd passing by. 

Once I was sure that I didn’t have the detective on my tail anymore, I allowed myself to relax somewhat. I was on my own though I didn’t have to be. My brother would be no help. He never believed, never trusted. He hadn’t seen the things I had with his own eyes and as for his tall friend? Well, I had doubts the man had knowledge of anything that was outside his realm of experienced, of sensory knowledge. He wouldn’t think twice about the sort of creatures I encountered on a near daily basis. Fantasy, make believe, fairy tales. The words had been spit out more times than I could count but that didn’t make them any more real. People liked to be in denial about things that they were long taught were fake. 

With a small groan, I collapsed onto my bed at the hotel and reached for the papers and books once more. I hadn’t exactly had luck on figuring out what the hell it was that I was dealing with. So, I was more or less in the same boat as the men working the case legally. Stretching out my legs, I cracked open the last book that I had been browsing through and continued to read upon the latest spirt. Nothing about the whole situation as sitting right with me. Too many variables were changing with each murder. It almost seemed as if it was multiple spirits tackling the murders. But that couldn’t have been possible. Sure, it wasn’t uncommon to encounter two or three that were all trapped together because death had bound them so. But five? That was a little much even for me. None of my friends stateside had been able to offer any advice. Even the Winchester boys. They had been as stumped as I had been. They had offered to fly out but I knew that they had their own messes to be dealing with so I had declined. I didn’t need them here. 

No violent deaths in the area that sounded like any of the victims conditions. No connections between the victims, locations, schooling, work, hell even sins committed. There was nothing. With my brother hanging around the crime scenes, it was near impossible to get close enough to inspect them and pick up any traces of the supernatural. Most would have tossed in the towel and said it was just a super random, weird coincidence that these murders coincided but I knew better. It reeked of dark and evil energy. I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was. 

Greg ran a hand over his face and let out a sigh. He was sick of explaining this to Sherlock. The man was supposed to be a genius after all. 

“Listen, you can believe what you will. But anywhere that woman goes, trouble is sure to follow. It has always been that way. I know she isn’t connected to the murders though Sherlock. She doesn’t have it in her.” 

“She is a rather peculiar woman though Graham. I mean, all the books and research on the spirit world and the supernatural.” The words came out as if they physically tasted bad. “Even Mycroft wasn’t able to find enough to make anyone comfortable. She may be your sister but how well do you really know her?” 

“My sister is not a killer Sherlock!” 

“Everyone is a suspect.” Greg ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh. He was just done explaining things to him now. Sure they had never seen eye to eye and they hadn’t spoken in quite some time but that didn’t mean that her inherent personality had changed that much. No, she had always looked to help, to save. Never to harm. He wasn’t sure what he could do to prove to the man that she was no one of intent. Grabbing a hold of her was about one of his only options but he hadn’t been able to do that in years. He was fairly certain that she still harbored a lot of resent for him but that wasn’t anything that he needed to let himself dwell on. 

I should have picked up on the signs, I had dealt with the bastards more than often enough in recent months. But he was covering his tracks really, really well. Impressively so. But that was also his downfall. Five murders, almost as if by five different beings. Things didn’t add up. Attacks like that didn’t happen that quickly, within such a short amount of time of one another. Even in a major city like London. I was piecing it together, sipping a cup of coffee when the chair across from me scrapped against the floor and a black blur sat down. I didn’t bring my attention up from the book I was scanning over. 

“You would think that leaving the country would be enough of a deterrent. But then again, I shouldn’t be surprised should I? You aren’t one to give up easily.” Finally I glanced up to see the familiar smirk and amusement dancing in the hazel eyes. Though there was something else that often wasn’t there. Concern? Nah, he wasn’t capable of that unless it was focused on himself. 

“Now, that isn’t anyway to greet me love. Especially when I am here to help.” I gritted my teeth and tried to keep from reaching for the demon blade that I had hidden in my jacket sleeve. 

“I don’t want, nor need you help Crowley.” He just sat back, making himself comfortable in his chair. 

“Oh but you do. And really, helping you benefits me. Chad has gone rouge you see and he is causing me more headaches than I care to go into detail about. Seems that he has been doing the same for you. You are going to need me on this one, whether you want to admit it or not. You are all alone here and he is amassing more and more power as we speak.” My eyes narrowed as he spoke. Of course his problem would become one of my own, in my own hometown, with my brother involved. Really. Hunters were never allowed nice things. 

“What’s the catch here? You never offer to help without some sort of trade, even if it benefits you in the end.” The Winchesters had worked a bit more with Crowley than I had but the couple of meetings that I had had with the King of Hell hadn’t gone over well. We were often at each other’s throats. Not that anything less could be expected between a hunter and a demon. 

“Can’t I just be a gentleman and offer a woman a helping hand?” I snorted and shook my head. 

“Yeah, sure. And hell hounds are just sweet puppies who want to give kisses instead of tearing people limb from limb.” He looked mildly offended. “Look, you may have managed to get the Winchesters to rest a bit easier around you but I don’t trust you and I never will. You are a demon and frankly you are lucky that I don’t take you out right now. But I made a promise to the boys since they often need your help. I can handle this situation well enough on my own. Why don’t you run along back to the states like the good leashed demon you are and see what you can help them with huh?” Maybe I let my tongue run away a little bit. I didn’t miss the flash of red that came over his eyes but I didn’t offer an ounce of the discomfort that I was instantly feeling when I saw it. His jaw set and there was something that he clearly wanted to say but he just stood up and walked off, likely to zap away. Rolling my eyes, I shut my book and went to stand up only to have the seat across from me be taken up once again. This time by the man that I had seen at the crime scene the other day. This was the detective that was working with my brother. Just great. If I could have slammed my head against the table and gotten away with it I would have. This was the last thing that I needed to be dealing with. 

“Lovely to finally meet the infamous Julie Lestrade.” I sighed softly and settled back into my seat, knowing I wasn’t exactly going to get out of here easily. 

“You must be Sherlock Holmes. I take it Greg told you to find me?” He smirked and his eyes were quickly scanning me. I had suffered under the gaze of creatures much, much worse so I sat there, with a bored expression on my face. I had a demon to kill and this man was taking up precious time. If there was another murder, it was going to be on his head. 

“Fascinating. Really, you are. You actually believe the stuff that you are reading don’t you?” 

“Love you don’t know the half of it.” I smirked a bit and leaned forward. “You may be able to read people Mr. Holmes, understand patterns and capabilities. And for that I applaud you. Humans are the worst monsters of them all. But sometimes, in some cases, logic and intelligence doesn’t get you much of anywhere. People of belief aren’t as foolish as you think they are. You have no information on these murders, you cannot connect them and it is bothering you more than you care to admit. Thankfully you have me here to take care of your problem before anything else goes too far. Then I will disappear and be out of your hair.” 

“And people think I am insane.” His head cocked to the side but I could tell he was interested. “I almost feel bad for you. Graham never seemed off in the head. Must be difficult for him to have a sister that is.” He was purposely going for a sore spot, I knew that but still it hurt. I wasn’t able to hide the slight signs of anger that flared upward but I quickly let them go. 

“It’s better that he thinks that. He is safer that way. As are you all. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do.” 

“You think I am going to let you go when you are the one who has been murdering these people?” I chuckled softly and shook my head. 

“Yet you are not sure it is actually me so you are going to let me go. Because the chase is too thrilling for you.” Hunters worked the same way, I wasn’t foolish like some when it came to the way that human minds worked. I finally stood up. “Good afternoon Mr. Holmes. I doubt we will be seeing each other again after this.” A rouge demon. That was all I had to take care of and I would be leaving London for the states again.


	2. Funny It Is, Being Friends with Demons (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JD Winchester is having a rough evening. Sometimes help and comfort comes from some of the most unexpected places.

Emotionally exhausted was the only way to explain how I was feeling. Sure watching it happen to my older brothers should have prepared me for how things would turn out but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. Then again, women often pinned after them and they were the ones ending it. It was not often that they were the ones who were caught off guard, heartbroken because someone decided to hurt them. I needed a good hunt to get my mind off of things but that was just a fantasy at the moment seeing as both Dean and Sam were out taking care of what sounded like a salt and burn. Knowing the Winchester luck though, it would turn into something more. Meaning, I was on my own to dwell in my sadness and self-pity. I hated feeling those sort of emotions but there was nothing else that the current situation called for. 

I collapsed down into the chair in my room, the small light keeping the room slightly darker. My head was pounding, the tears that I had shed leaving the evidence of a breakdown on my face. I couldn’t be bothered to clean them up though, no I wanted to remain here, absently staring at the wall with an open book in my lap. It was meant to be a distraction, research for the boys about something that Bobby had called about but we hadn’t taken up just yet. Wanting to be numb but knowing that drinking would be a poor idea when I was on my own, I had to settle for this. Though it was doing a piss poor job as a substitute. I don’t think I had ever felt so defeated. I had taken this relationship more seriously than I ever had before. I had thought that there was a possibility that it would turn into something more, that I wouldn’t have to be looking for anyone else. My chest ached as if my heart had taken a physical beating. This was just a reason to ward me off from relationships in the future but also bring the level up a notch in my disgruntled feelings towards being a hunter. 

I heard steps in my room and it snapped me out of my haze. No matter my state, instincts wouldn’t allow me to just get myself killed because some boy had hurt me. 

“Ah, just the Winchester I was looking for.” I closed my eyes and let out a small sigh. “I need a favor love…” 

“Crowley please. We can talk about whatever you want but give me a couple hours. Come back in the morning and I will listen to whatever you have to say. I just need some time to myself right now.” I could see the demon pause out of the corner of my eye. What I couldn’t see was the furrow brow and flickers of confusion that crossed his face at my tone. Even I wanted to cringe at how near broken I sounded in the moment. Yeah, perfect. Show the King of Hell what a weak woman I was. God damn it JD, get your shit together. Come on. 

Not a single sound came from Crowley as he stood there for a few more moments. His hand came up, I could see it but before he could snap, a loud pounding came to the door of my apartment. My jaw clenched and my entire body tensed, tight as a spring as I could hear the voice drifting through the door even in my bedroom. James had impeccable timing, always had. The jackass breaks my heart and then had the nerve to show up here? And when I had business to attend to, even though I had just asked Crowley to return in a few hours. I nearly swore as I could feel Crowley’s eyes burning into me, as if he was putting the pieces of the puzzle together even without having them. I closed my eyes again and actually allowed myself to swear as I heard the dress shoes walk across the wooden floor. He could read minds. 

I was up on my feet and moving towards the door, trying to intercept the brunette before he could get there. I didn’t need any trouble and the one being who loved to cause it was striding with purpose towards the door. James knew nothing about what my brothers and I did. He had met Crowley on accident once and I had never heard the end of it. James had hated him instantly, thinking that my brothers were putting me in danger by having such a creepy man around all the time. If he only knew. 

“Don’t you dare…” My warning was killed immediately as the door swung open. I stood behind Crowley but could still see the look of disgust that crossed over the blond man’s face as he stood in the doorway. 

“What are you doing here creep?” He tried to force his way in but the demon stood firm. Bastard had managed to step around my devil trap too, making sure that he wasn’t stuck in one spot. I was tense, not sure where this was going and who was going to end up hurt. Because someone was. The feeling was settling like a pit in my stomach, taking over the sadness. My eyes diverted from James when he looked towards me. 

“Come on Jules, we need to talk.” Swallowing hard and praying that I didn’t suddenly burst into tears like a hormonal woman, I shook my head. My voice was going to crack if I tried to speak. 

“I think it would be a good idea for you to leave the lady alone.” There was an edge to the demons voice that I hadn’t heard before. Sure I had heard him angry, furious really, aggravated, and frustrated, all sorts of unhappy emotions. But this? This was something new. I edged towards the couch where a blade sat, just in case I needed it. 

“Back off. You don’t know jack shit. Now let me talk to my girlfriend.” I couldn’t see the dangerous smirk that came across his face at James’ words. I could see the tension that had risen to his shoulders though and the way that his body was taunt, waiting for a fight. I had seen it enough on my brothers to know even if I hadn’t seen him in true action too often. 

“I’m sorry who do you think you need to talk to? Because I am fairly certain that sleeping with other women would discount any sort of relationship that you have with the lovely woman standing behind me.” Lord, the man liked to press buttons, no matter who it was. Guess it was nice to see him going after someone that wasn’t myself or my brothers. And oddly enough, I was finding myself thankful that he was here and handling the situation because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to. James made the mistake of shoving Crowley and forcing his way into the apartment, his face red at the implications that had just been tossed out into the open. So, it had been more than one woman. I felt a fool and suddenly was wishing that the floor would open up and swallow me whole. Spending some time down in hell would be better than having to handle this right now. The wounds were too fresh. Even if a whole week didn’t make it count as really fresh. 

Instantly, Crowley was by my side before James could cross the floor and stand in front of me. I was not able to blink before I felt a warm hand rest against my hip. My brain didn’t catch up to the situation right away as the redness increased on my ex’s face. Crowley was standing beside me, an arm wrapped around me. I glanced up at him to see the warning look that was settled on his face. What the hell was he doing? 

“Get your hands off of her.” James was gritting his teeth. 

“Why should I when you can’t keep your hands to yourself huh? At least I don’t allow mine to wander.” 

“I didn’t cheat.” Crowley snorted before shaking his head and pressing a kiss to my temple. Alright, now things were getting weird but I found myself not all that bothered by it still. 

“But you did.” I finally spoke, more comforted and strengthened by the man beside me than I really should have. “You can lie to everyone all you want but I caught you with another woman. There is no changing that. Now get out of my apartment.” My arm slid around Crowley’s waist, hand gripping onto his suit blazer more than I intended it to. His hand gave my hip a small squeeze. That was when he swung, at who I couldn’t tell because things started to move too fast. Crowley had pulled me behind his form, taking the punch on his jaw. Before I could move to throw the man out of my space, he was pinned to the wall. Yep, the demon was showing and I was sure that in the moment James was instantly regretting the decision to come over here. 

“Now, you are going to listen to me and listen very carefully.” Crowley straightened out his blazer before sparing a quick glance at me to make sure that I was okay. Then his attention was fully on James once more. “You are going to leave this apartment with your life. Not because I want it but because it would cause too many problems for my girl. You are never going to come here again, talk to her again, or think of her again. Because if you do, I will know and make sure that I finish this the way that I want to handle it. You will be praying for death by the time I am done and then will spend the rest of eternity suffering the worst sort of torture that I can come up with. Your soul will never rest. Do I make myself understood?” James made some sort of choking sound that Crowley took as an agreement and he let go of whatever hold he had on the blond. James scurried out of the apartment faster than I had ever seen him more. 

My shoulders dropped and I immediately fell onto my couch, burying my face in my hands. As if I wasn’t exhausted before. 

“Thank you.” It was barely a whisper but I knew that the normally pesky demon heard it. The couch dipped beside me and I felt the warmth of an arm resting close to my shoulders. 

“No need to thank me love.” Demon or not, I have never been more thankful to not be alone during the ordeal and right then. “Guy needed to be put in his place. Felt good to exercise a few old tricks.” I felt like that wasn’t the whole truth but considering he had just helped me out tremendously, I was not about to call him out on the bullshit. He didn’t jump right to business either which was odd but I didn’t question it. Instead, I just continued to take the comfort that his presence was offering and allowed myself to relax. Things could and would be different come tomorrow, even more so when my brothers came back but for now, hunter and demon were friends.


	3. Older Brothers are the Worst (Julie Lestrade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie's plan change and she has a run in with someone who keeps a close eye on Sherlock.

The plans had changed when I realized that there were more things hanging around my hometown than what I had been lead to believe. It was nice to be home too, even if I was on my own and I no longer had even my hunting family to watch my back. They could always come visit for a change of pace but there was never going to be enough of a break where they felt comfortable leaving. A hunter’s job was never done after all. There was always another spirit, always another creature causing panic in the dark. Evil was around every corner in this world and we were the only ones who could handle it. It was on our shoulders to ensure that there was some sort of balance and that those who lived in an unaware bliss were able to continue doing so. 

I hadn’t exactly stuck around London, knowing that I would likely have some more run-ins with my brother and with Sherlock Holmes. It was better to avoid that sort of confrontation. While I had left behind the evidence, the trail that would lead them to the appropriate individual even if said individual technically had no control over themselves, it wouldn’t ease the minds of any of them. The demon had been strong and I sort of regretted not taking up Crowley on his offer. A broken arm, some bruised ribs, and several stitched wounds later, I had managed to kill the demon and end the terror that the city was living in. The end of the case brought about my leave of London for the time being. I had headed up the coast, taken about a week to get some rest even if it wasn’t necessarily relaxing, before jumping in feet first to more cases. I stuck with the easier ones as I recovered. Salt and burns mainly, spirits that were restless but violent nonetheless. 

It lasted a few weeks before I was brought back to London. Munching on a burger as I moved through the streets, I kept my eyes out for the kitsune. Not really an easy task considering unless they were on full display, they looked no different than any other random individual walking the streets. So far, there was no signs of any twitching ears hidden under hair, a quick swish of a tail concealed by clothing, or pupils that were more animal like than human. It was a pain in the ass to find one really. That was the way that London seemed to be welcoming me home though, with cases that proved to challenge me more than I liked to admit. 

Tossing the burger wrapping into a nearby garbage, I was pulled to a stop, my eyes taken off my surroundings when a black car pulled up to the curb beside me and the door opened. 

“Best get in Ms. Lestrade.” I cocked a brow and looked at the woman for a moment, assessing the situation quickly and trying to determine what level of trouble this was. She knew who I was and that rarely if ever tended to mean anything good. 

“Cristo.” Her head cocked to the side slightly, her eyes finally lifting from her phone. Well, there was a safe bet that she wasn’t a demon. No black eyes, no flinching when the name of the Lord was spoken. That didn’t rule out any sort of involvement. Still could be looking at some sort of odd grouping, though nothing clung in the air and there were no obvious signs that were screaming out to my hunter instincts. 

“Well?” Glancing around the busy streets, I got the distinct feeling that I wasn’t given much of a choice when it came to this decision. Still, I palmed the knife in my shirt sleeve. It was sort of a comfort mechanism at this point, as sad and unhealthy as that was. Well, to most normal people it would be. 

“I don’t think so. See, I have a habit of not going anywhere with people I don’t know. Sort of a safety thing. The first lesson taught in life in fact. That whole don’t talk to stranger’s thing? Or did Mummy and Daddy skip over that lesson with you?” I took a step back from the car before presenting the smirk that I knew infuriated people. “Appreciate the attempt but there are other ways to corner me to talk. If your boss is up to the challenge. As of right now, I have business I need to finish taking care of so I must bid adieu.” There was a bit of a surprised look across her face that I had declined. 

“It could be about your brother.” I nearly laughed and would have if I wasn’t being forced into keeping a straight face. Greg was at Scotland Yard, I knew that for a fact. And I knew that he was safe. I wasn’t going to make my presence known to the entire supernatural community in the damn country and not make sure that my remaining family wasn’t taken care of. A few favors were called in, ones that I had been holding onto for when I really needed them but his safety was more important than my own hide. 

“If you are going to threaten someone, you might want to make sure that you know where to target and actually make a hit.” I shrugged as if the threat towards Greg didn’t bother me. I had to keep up the air of nonchalance for his sake. If he was known to be a weakness of mine, there was no amount of favors I could possibly store up to keep him safe. It was often why I didn’t go by my true surname. With a mocking wave, I continued to move onward. Clean car, business attire, a near distracted attitude. Not the usual outfit for the things that I tended to deal with. Even those that worked for Crowley weren’t that put together. 

I had done my homework on Sherlock and knew of his brother. The man was buried pretty damn deeply into the government. One thing connected to another. The car was likely sent by the elder Holmes since I had already met the younger. If one didn’t trust me, the other certainly wouldn’t. It just so happened that the other one in question had many more resources to cause me some problems. I was going to have to play my cards right if I wanted to be able to disappear from London again after this case was all over. 

Surprising as it might have been, my luck didn’t hold out. I could have cursed every deity that I knew existed in the moment when I was forced into the car with a gun to my back. The woman from before was there but some extra muscle came along to ensure that things went the way that I didn’t want them to this time around. 

“Persistent bunch aren’t you?” She didn’t respond, continuing to look at her phone. Right, business. Supposedly. Rolling my eyes, I stretched out a bit in the car, ignoring the fact that it would likely annoy the others. If they were going to inconvenience me, I was sure as hell going to inconvenience them. I was half tempted to actually call Crowley just to see what would happen. The bastard would probably find some way to get back to me over it but if this meeting was going to go how I thought it was going to go, it might be worth it. A bottle of Craig sent to the Winchesters would smooth things over. Really for a demon, he was a bit easy to play now that he was involved with the famous duo. 

I shook my head to bring myself back to the present. We pulled up to what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, though it was less run down than the ones that I was used to spending time in. I chuckled softly at the thought and sat myself up a bit straighter before opening the door. 

“Ah, home sweet home. Let me guess, in the doorway, down the hall several hundred feet, door on one of my sides that will lead to a smaller room where I will meet with whoever it is that wants to have a chat. Likely the eldest Holmes boy judging from the fact that I haven’t had a run in with him yet. Am I right?” A noncommittal grunt came from the man that gave me a shove while the woman just grabbed a hold of the door handle to pull it closed again. “No need to get rough just yet. I see the idea of gentlemanly behavior has gone out the door even at home.” 

It took no time to reach the destined room and as I sat down, making myself comfortable in the thin, rickety chair that I could easily bust if I ended up tied to it, another door opened and in came a man that resembled Sherlock Holmes somewhat. Crossing my arms over my chest, I was careful to not reveal the weapons that I had on me. 

“And to what do I owe the pleasure of attracting the attention of you Mr. Holmes? Your brother had a bit of a rant huh?” Sure I had done plenty to attract the attention of the police force, the government, maybe even Interpol. Seemed like a habit that was ingrained in all hunters. People didn’t understand our job, couldn’t even begin to so often we found ourselves in situations that were beyond compromising. 

“Funny there are just isn’t too much information on one Julie Lestrade. Why do you suppose that is?” He was looking at me the way that his brother had, as if I was a challenge and a puzzle to solve. 

“Maybe because Lestrade isn’t my last name.” I wasn’t foolish enough to think that he hadn’t run all my aliases. From his brother alone, and the knowledge of how brothers worked due to the Winchesters, his curiosity was surely peaked and ideas had been shared. 

“Your brother already gave us the information that we needed when it came to your name. No need to lie. Now, what are you doing back in London? You had wandered off the radar for quite some time and I was rather hoping you would stay that way.” 

“Business.” The answer was short and not what he wanted by the way that his fingers flexed around the umbrella that he was currently using as a cane. “As I am sure you know by now, I had no connection to those murders that happened near two months ago. From what I read in the papers, your brother ended up solving the case but the killer was found dead before they could find him. Some sort of internal trauma correct?” Exorcism did often have some nasty side effects for the vessels. It was often that I came across a demon who did not want to give up on the body that they had found and did damage to make sure that no one else could use it. Not even its rightful owners. 

“You don’t have a job.” I mockingly held my hand over my heart. Alright, I had spent too much time in the states with several different hunters if I was picking up on habits of theirs that I would have never showcased before. 

“I’m hurt you think so lowly of me. Just because I don’t have a nine to five or a twenty four hour occupation like yourself, doesn’t mean I am a lazy bum who sits on my arse all day. I have a very important job thank you very much. Which, I really need to get back to so if you have something important to say, I would get on with it.” He was clearly not used to being talked to the way that I was handling him. Tough shit. There was a kitsune out there harming people, getting more free time to roam while I was here handling with bullshit. 

“I want you out of London. I have plenty of ways of making that happen if you chose to not heed the warning.” At that, I wasn’t able to contain my laugh. 

“If you can manage to get rid of me, I will stay dead. But many better than you have tried and have failed. You have some big shoes to manage to fill Mycroft. I bid you the best of luck but I wouldn’t hold your breath.” I felt the gun dig into my side, not allowing my smirk to falter despite the situation. If I timed it right, I could have the man downed. Not that I wanted to but if he was going to continue to press the nozzle of the gun against my still occasionally sore ribs, we would have a whole other problem on our hands. “No need for some grand speech about eyes in the sky and birds hearing conversations. I understand you have eyes everywhere. But that should also open your mind up a bit and it hasn’t. I hope that nothing ever does, for you and your brother. I truly do.” I spun on my heel and began out of the room. That was not exactly the meeting that I had expected. Seemed that I threw both Homes boys off of their game a bit. It all worked to my advantage and I planned on keeping it that way for as long as I possibly could.


	4. Necessary Evils (Julie Lestrade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, a hunter has to suck it up and deal with someone that they would rather gank because the situation calls for it.

To say my job had been much more complicated by the fact that I now not only had a brilliant detective following me but a man who more or less ran the government and had more access to an array of cameras was an understatement. I felt like I couldn’t go anywhere without being spotted. In London and outside of London. The Holmes brothers were quickly becoming a giant pain in the ass. There had been no contact with my brother, I had made sure to cover my tracks well enough that the whole situation was avoided. For his sake more than my own. Though my own cowardice was a major factor in that decision as well. My fear of what his reaction would be towards me, how he would handle it. Part of me felt that he would hate me still and I couldn’t face that. I didn’t have it in me. Years as a hunter had emotionally wrecked me. I could handle monsters, demons, any of them. Ask me to deal with anything that was personally emotional? There was not a chance that I could handle it. 

I slid into one of the alleyways, letting out a small sigh as I felt the eyes finally peel off of me. I could feel them on me constantly, worse than any sort of ghoul or creature stalking me. It was exhausting to say the least. It wouldn’t be long before someone ended up coming upon me. I wasn’t allowed to be out of sight for more than a few moments. Judging by how quickly someone moved to find me, it made them uncomfortable when they couldn’t track me. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the brothers came upon me rather than any sort of tail that they felt was a good idea. A joke really, considering that a human following me less than fifty paces behind at all times was something that was plenty easy to pick up on and occasionally not all that easy to drop. 

“Know that you are used to some filthy locations but this is a bit much don’t you think love?” I groaned out loud, unable to help the sound that came from my mouth. There was no one else on the face of this planet that had worse timing than the King of demons himself. I glanced to my side to see Crowley leaning against the wall, casually looking down at his fingers as if he was bored. I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes in frustration. 

“There is seriously no one else that you could be bothering at the moment?” It was like some kind of twisted form of torture he liked to indulge in with a soul that he had no claim over. Gathering myself, I tried not to allow my voice to raise any more than it already had. Attention was rather easy to draw from a busy street if I wasn’t too careful. It was what I was trying to avoid after all. 

“I mean, there is a drunk laying right behind us that has soiled himself. The abandoned factories have a much better atmosphere.” He was completely ignoring my complaint. Not that it came as a surprising but it still annoyed me beyond belief. His entire existence tended to do that though. So it was nothing new. How the Winchesters put up with him was beyond me. They must be truly desperate when they call upon him. 

“Is there a particular reason you decided to zap beside me today or are you here just to push my buttons for some sort of sick entertainment?” He smirked and remained silent for a few moments, barely taking the time to look around anymore. 

“Word going around is you are having a problem shaking some unwanted attention. They must be persistent fellows to tail you around like that.” 

“You would know wouldn’t you?” 

“I see you haven’t lost an edge my dear.” I really didn’t have time to deal with his bullshit right now. The distinct voice of Mycroft was sounding out over the bustling life of the streets. Really, it was becoming insulting how little they thought of my intelligence. I had escaped from them both, well Mycroft it was more of a walking away sort of deal, but neither of them had been able to catch me since. One would think that I would manage to garner a little more respect and careful planning from them. Apparently, I hadn’t proven enough to them though. They would learn. Boys always took a bit longer but they would learn. 

The phrase caught between a rock and a hard place never seemed more appropriate than right then. I was surrounded by bothersome men and now had to choose which one I wanted to deal with more. Only one option held any sort of mild control within my grasp so, I turned to Crowley. 

“Give me your coat.” He cocked his head just a bit, looking mildly confused by the demand I had made. The wheels were turning but he wasn’t going to catch onto my plan until we were already enacting it.

“Excuse me?” The man was more attached to his clothing than he should have been. A personality quark that I had picked up long ago. A little disturbing really since I was less attached to my things. Then again, I really didn’t count as a normal woman so it was sort of a hard comparison to make there. 

“Hand it over. We don’t have a lot of time.” I was already regretting the decision and cursing myself for the plan that had formed in my head. I would never live it down, it was something that would be held over my head forever. Literally forever seeing as I didn’t see Crowley dying any time soon. He was unfortunately just a little too crafty to allow it to happen. Compound that with the fact that my soul was likely to go downstairs rather than up, well it made it so that it would be an eternity of Crowley lording this very moment over my head. My stomach churned at the thought but there wasn’t a better option at the moment and he was the only one that I had with me. 

He slipped his arms out of the longer coat, leaving him in his suit and reluctantly handed it over to me. I slipped it on over my own clothing, hiding the colors and type of material that the men would be looking for and with a quick flick of my wrist, let down my normally pinned hair. Long hair was a problem in my line of work and I tended to keep mine out of the way with a few tricks I had learned. 

Fuck, I hated myself already and I hadn’t even seen through the whole thing. The fabric smelt of sulfur, cologne, some fire, and whatever alcohol that he tended to drink. I didn’t pay much attention. It was a whiskey or a bourbon. Nope wait that was a lie. He drank Craig. Well, seemed the Holmes boys were getting to me a bit more than I thought. Minus the sulfur, it wasn’t too horrendous a smell really. It could have been a lot worse. The alleyway we were in surely was a lot worse about twenty feet down, towards the passed out drunk. 

“Would you care to explain to me what is going on and why you demanded to commandeer my good coat?” The voice was closer than ever which meant it was show time. Swallowing down hard and cursing myself out in every language I knew with every filthy word and insult that I could conjure up, I reached out and yanked the surprised demon to me before planting my lips against his. My head was tilted and halfway hidden behind his while his body blocked mine from view. Much to my rather enormous lack of surprise, Crowley went right along with the whole ordeal. His body was pressed hard against mine, no sign of any hesitation or unwillingness conveyed in his body language. His hands had my hips pinned to the wall, getting a little too into the kiss for my liking but then again, crossroads demon. It was sort of what they. did for a living. Not to mention, he seemed to look after anything that had two legs and moved, sort of like many of the hunters I knew. He was enjoying himself thoroughly, taking as much liberty as he could in the moments that he was given. 

I could hear a disgruntled and disgusted sound being made from the entrance of the alleyway before a muttered phrase that included the name Sherlock came drifting to my ears. I risked a glance towards that direction to see the tails of the coat vanishing from view. I gave it a few more moments, before shoving the demon away. Peeling off his coat, I threw it back at him, not wanting to look him in the face. I knew the look there would be smug and cocky. A look that I would be tempted to smack off of his face. He was going to feel rather full of himself for a while and there was not a single thing that could be done to knock him down a peg about it. He would hold onto this moment and make sure that it was brought up at every possible opportunity he was around me and knew he would annoy me. I wanted to cringe to think about what was possibly going through his head during the moment. 

“Well, that was rather unexpected but not wholly unwelcomed. Could have been doing that a lot sooner if you were eager to make a deal love.” 

“Shove it Crowley. Some shit is just a necessary evil.” I quickly worked to pin my hair back up before moving down the alleyway. “Speak of this again and I make it a personal mission of mine to ensure that you can never enjoy another female again.” The demon blade slid from my sleeve and I waved it threateningly at him though he didn’t seem the least bit phased by it. Perfect. Just perfect. 

“Or just a right place, right time. Wouldn’t mind getting a repeat of that.” I hadn’t made it fifteen feet from him and it was already starting. Getting him to give it a rest was going to be impossible now. He was going to dog every footstep as much as the Holmes boys were doing. 

“What do you like to say? Just business? There isn’t any way on Earth, in hell, or with those assholes from above that that is ever happening again. You just happened to be the better option than jumping into the dumpster.” More believable too. Both Holmes’ were rather uncomfortable around emotion and physical displays. They wouldn’t take too much of a second glance because of it, being the proper English gentlemen that they thought they were. “Now, just get out of here already. Don’t bother showing up at my motel. I made sure there were plenty of traps set up. Besides, wouldn’t want to dirty that suit of yours in such a lowly place now would you?” I continued to move, not wanting to deal with the man any longer. He had served his purpose for the day, as much as I would have rather avoided the situation all together. Next time I ran into one of the men, I was going to end up punching them in the face for making me kiss the King of Hell.


	5. One Nice Family Dinner is Too Much to Ask (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1/3
> 
> The Winchester luck holds true even for JD. A hunter should never be unprepared and yet, she gets caught off guard.
> 
> Trigger Warning: Violence, brief mentions of torture, kidnapping.

The tiny room was crowded and rowdy but beyond comfortable to all involved in the dinner. Bobby was laughing at something Sam had said while Dean was shoveling food into his mouth faster than I could follow. Ellen was watching with amusement while occasionally slapping Dean upside the head for his horrendous table manners, though Castiel was copying the actions so she would roll her eyes in a mocking frustration every few seconds. Jo and I were in the middle of a playfully heated argument on the various canine creatures that we encountered in our work. It wasn't what most would consider normal, but I couldn't have asked for anything better in the moment. I had my family around me and nothing was going wrong. There had been too much stress, too much worry lately and as difficult as it had been for us to start relaxing, once we begun to enjoy ourselves, it was hard not to fall right into it and take in every moment that we could while we had it.

That sort of relaxation doesn't last long for any hunter, let alone us Winchesters. We had surprisingly run out of liquor and it hadn't even hit eight in the evening. Being the one who had managed to avoid being drunk off of their ass, I offered to make the run to get more liquor. It wasn't like I was going far and I was capable of taking care of myself. I took the keys for one ofBobby's trucks, reassuring everyone that I wouldn't be long, that it was a ten minute drive down the road, ten minutes back and then we could all continue drinking and laughing.

Maybe it was the liquor that had dulled my senses as I stood in the store, placing several bottles into a basket for purchase. Maybe it was the sense of complacency that had come over me, the comfort of the evening that had me missing the signs that were obvious as the day was long. No matter what it was, I still missed them all and before I knew it, I was staring at a man with blond hair and a gleam to his eyes that immediately set me on edge. Oh, I was in trouble. Every hunter instinct in my body screamed for me to run away, that this was very, very dangerous.

A smirk that curled his lips almost unnaturally came to his face as he stared at me, closing the distance between us after a moment. I moved to grab the blade and gun that were tucked into my waistband.

"Oh come now. You really think those are going to do anything to me? I was thinking that catching a Winchester was going to be much more difficult than this. You and your brothers have quite the reputation. I have to admit that I am a bit disappointed." My eyes narrowed as I tried to work out who he was, what he was and how far screwed I was. "Now that just wounds my pride that you can't figure out who I am." My eyes widened. Mind reader, appearing out of nowhere. He had a vibe coming off of him that was similar to Cas but it was darker, more demon like. He wasn't exactly like any sort of demon that I had come across though. There was more power radiating from him.

"What do you want?"

"Your brother." He shrugged and gave what seemed like an honest answer. It threw me off a little bit but I held the blade in front of me, my gun cocked in the other hand. "And you are going to help me with that. Easiest way to a man is through his family after all."

"You even going to tell me who the hell you are? So I know whose ass I am handing to them?" He chuckled and it sent a wave of ice down my spine. I would much rather deal with Crowley on any sort of day than this man.

"You mean to tell me your brothers kept you locked in the dark about me? What a shame." Things were slowly beginning to fall into place. I was in deeper than I could handle, that much I knew. But there wasn't a chance of me getting out of there in one piece. I also completely understood and accepted that. It was a matter of how much damage I could cause him before I went down. Winchesters never laid down and died easily after all. Without a second more of hesitation, I lashed out at the demon, not caring anymore who I was fighting. All that mattered was that I managed to get some hits in on the man before he overpowered me. He had the audacity to laugh, find it amusing that I was fighting for my life. It pissed me off even further. Which really wasn't a good thing for me seeing as the more anger I had over a situation, the less in control I tended to be. I took after Dean a bit in that regard. He had a few years on me when it came to restraining and reigning that sort of thing in. The slashes I made were becoming less and less coordinated. He saw his opportunity and went for it, his hand coming into contact with my head. Then my world was black.

The first thing that registered in my brain was the throb that was permeating my head, ruining any chance of thinking straight. Groaning softly, I went to open my eyes only to find myself looking at complete darkness. Nothing but black surrounded me. Panic came welling up without hesitation or resistance. I couldn't be blind, I had to be in the dark. I tried to grasp onto that thought to be able to keep from having a complete breakdown. I slammed my lids shut again, unwilling to withstand the idea any longer that I could have lost my vision. My hands were tied tightly against the arms of a chair. Even if I struggled, I wouldn't have been able to loosen them. Someone had done their homework. Swallowing down hard and shoving as much of the panic and fear into the back of my mind as I could, I threw myself at making an attempt at figuring out where I was. There was little to no sound reaching my ears at the moment, even as I strained to listen. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was like a sensory deprivation and I was hating every second of it.

Tallying up the odds that were stacked against me, they were pretty hefty and I wasn't sure I would be able to come out of this without too much damage suddenly. My fist uncurled and fingers latched onto the wood beneath my fingers. It served as a purchase, even if it wasn't something special or held any sort of meeting towards me. My world was beginning to spin out of control and there was not a single damn thing in heaven, hell, or earth that I could think of to get out of the situation. I would never get to see my brothers again. It was heartbreaking really.

As much as we fought and argued and wanted to tear each other's heads off on more than one occasion, we were still family and that was important to us all.

After what felt like hours when in reality it was probably only a couple of minutes along with the acceptance that the angel I knew wasn't going to be swooping in to rescue me, the door opened and I could hear footsteps moving towards me. The slowly shutting door was allowing me to hear every anguished, agonized scream that was filling the area outside of the room I was stuck in.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite Winchester." The events of the store came flooding back and I knew this was the same man that I had encountered there.

"Lucifer." I spoke quietly as the realization came over me. The boys weren't as good about hiding what they were researching as they thought they were. It all made sense now. The quiet appearance, the energy that I could feel off of him, making me black out. So, I was lord only knew where with the devil himself. This was just getting better and better.

"See, I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. Julianna, the smartest of the Winchester. If I wasn't so keen on having your brother's body, I might just allow my mind to be persuaded." I nearly cringed at the use of my full name. I wasn't a giant fan and always introduced myself as JD. Few people were allowed to call me Jules. But Julianna? Forget about it.

That was when the idea popped into my head. Crowley. I hated to have to rely on him but there wasn't a bunch of other options presenting themselves. I kept my eyes closed and tried to reach out to him. If we were anywhere where there could have been a mass of demons, he should have been able to know, feel something. He had a knack for it after all. Showing up at my apartment and later Bobby's house, or on hunts at odd hours just when I needed something.

Seconds later, there was still nothing. The hope I had felt at the idea dimmed and burned out quickly. I was screwed. My brothers wouldn't be able to help me, I didn't want them to either seeing as it was a trap. Cas and Crowley weren't responding. I was on my own against a foe that I was not going to be able to defeat.

"That's what this whole thing is about. You getting my brother's body. Listen, I know Sam isn't exactly the most intelligent or also so willing when it comes to those who want to share his bed, but kidnapping me isn't going to make him want to fuck you." I didn't care about the language I was using in the moment. I probably should have concerned myself more with the fact that I had just allowed my mouth to run, sarcasm being quite the defense mechanism in our family, to Lucifer. My jaw clamped down hard as I felt a searing pain flare up my arm from my hand.

"I take that back. Maybe you aren't the smartest of the Winchesters. The mouth runs in your family doesn't it?"

"You know, it sort of screams desperate when you are chasing after the sibling of someone you want. Not a good look on you." The pain became more intense as I fought against crying out. If I could have seen, I would have been horrified to see the knife sticking out of my hand.

"You may want to remember your place little girl. You are playing with the big boys now and I plan on making you scream. But don't worry, you won't die. Every day, I will just let you go to the very brink before healing you so we can do it all again." My stomach twisted into a giant knot at the words. As terrified as I was, and I was truly terrified, I couldn't let him know it.

I couldn't let him get any information on Sam and Dean. I would protect my brothers with my life, and in this case, it really would mean giving it all up. After all, it was what Winchesters did best.


	6. Winchesters Never Give Up (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2/3
> 
> The rest of the family realizes something is wrong when JD doesn't return.

Sam knew something was up when it took JD more than an hour to make it back. The others weren’t too concerned yet, though everyone was almost too drunk to walk let alone think of what could be happening. He tried calling her twice to no avail. It kept going to voicemail after several long rings. His stomach churned and a heavy feeling settled deep within his chest. Something was wrong. Grabbing a glass of water for himself, getting more sober was his top priority. Seeing the opportunity as laughter died down at the table, he cleared his throat to draw some attention to himself. 

“JD has been gone for over an hour. It’s only a twenty minute round trip. I think someone should go check on her.” Dean leaned heavily against the table as the words took a bit longer than usual to process. Sam kept a straight face, being absolutely serious about going to check of their sibling. Something was wrong, he knew it. The feeling was growing by the second. 

“Alright, fine Sammy.” Dean waved his hand. “She probably just got stopped by someone. You know how she is. But if you want to go check, go on.” The rest of the group were studying Sam and could see that he was genuinely concerned over the issue. Bobby stood up and handed over another pair of keys. 

“Here. It’s the blue truck parked towards the end of the lot. Bit more reliable than the truck that JD took. In case she is broken down on the side of the road.” Sam didn’t believe that was a possibility for a second but was grateful that Bobby was making an attempt to calm him down. He grabbed the keys with a nod and headed out the door, feeling much more sober than he had when JD left. His sister had to be okay. It was probably just something stupid and he could laugh about it later but with the way that he was feeling, he didn’t want to take the chance on ignoring it. That had never worked out well for any of them in the past and he wasn’t about to add to the running count. 

The ride over was quiet and there was not a single sign of her anywhere along the road. So the break down was out of the question. Coming on the liquor store, the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. Fingers tightened around the wheel as he forced down the worry that was bringing bile up the back of his throat. His eyes flitted around the scene, trying to see if anything was wrong. Just one thing needed to be out of place but so far it wasn’t. Everything was quiet, normal. He wasn’t sure if it was the normal that was making him more uncomfortable than he was already or if he was just allowing his mind to get the better of him. Bobby’s other car was still parked in the lot so Sam knew that she had made it to the store alright. 

Every instinct and feeling was proven right as soon as Sam stepped over the threshold of the store entrance. The clerk was behind the counter, face down on the floor. He didn’t need to check the body to know that he was already dead. Reaching for his knife, he moved carefully through the store, keeping as aware of his surrounding as he could while desperately seeking the form of his sister. She couldn’t be one of the bodies on the floor, he couldn’t accept it. 

“JD?” He called out softly, hoping to hear anything coming from her. Even a whimper at this point would have been a welcomed sound to his ears. But nothing but silence continued to greet him. Each body that he came across gave him a start. His nerves were nearly frayed by the time that he came to the last body and it was a male. There was no sign of the middle Winchester here. If the car that Bobby had let her drive wasn’t parked out front, he wouldn’t have believed that she could have been here. He had to get the others, let them know that something had happened, that JD was in some serious trouble. That was when he spotted the charred feather on the floor and his heart nearly stopped. It was familiar, as much as he wished it hadn’t been. 

“Find her Sammy?” Dean’s voice was much too calm for his liking. Blood was pounding in his ears as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that his sister was being held by one of the most twisted individuals that they had ever dealt with. JD was never meant to be mixed up in any of this. He and Dean had agreed that this was something that they needed to protect her from. Because the fallen angel would use her to whatever advantage that he could. He wanted to vomit, wanted to curl in a ball and cry. His voice cracked when he managed to bring himself to answer Dean. 

“She isn’t here Dean. They are all dead. And I found a charred angel feather.” Sam could hear the chair hitting the floor as Dean shot up. At least he wasn’t drunk enough to not realize what was being said. 

“You sure?” 

“There are four bodies that are in the store that can back up my claims. JD wasn’t there Dean. What if he has her?” Slamming his hand against the steering wheel, Sam felt the burn of tears in the back of his eyes. He was going to destroy the bastard who dared to lay a hand on his sister. 

“We’ll find her Sam. Just get back here. I’ll see if Cas can start the search.” 

By the time Sam got back, he was forced to face the news that Cas couldn’t seem to find JD anywhere. She had vanished off the face of the map. The playful mood that had hung in the air was doused and send crashing. Everyone was arming themselves, solemn faced, liquor forgotten about entirely. A family member was missing, taken by one of the biggest baddies of them all. It wasn’t a situation that was going to be handled lightly. 

The brothers looked at one another for a second before nodding and moving to grab the supplies that they would need. Crowley would be able to search Hell, figure out if that was where she was being held. They didn’t bring the idea up to the others right away but desperate times called for desperate measures. 

The demon appeared before them with an exasperated sigh and roll of his eyes. 

“Moose and Squirrel. As always, a pleasure. Now what does the wonder duo need this time around? I was quite busy…” 

“JD is missing.” That cut the demon off rather abruptly. His jaw snapped shut and he looked between the two of them. 

“What do you mean missing?” They had his full attention and knew that he would help. While neither of the boys were fond of the easy bond that had formed between the two, they were thankful for it in that moment. 

“As in taken by Lucifer.” Sam set the feather down on the table. 

“You two are complete morons!” It was a struggled for the demon to maintain himself, some level of composure needed. It was clear that he wanted to snap the necks of both male Winchesters. “She hasn’t tried to call Castiel?” Crowley hadn’t sensed anything amiss in Hell but that didn’t necessarily mean all that much. The child that was perpetually throwing a temper tantrum had a tight grip on things when he decided to make his presence known. It had been a long shot that they wouldn’t have checked with their pet angel. If anyone was going to be able to find the girl, it would be him. Though Crowley wasn’t sure he would be able to admit that out loud even if JD’s life was dependent on it. 

“What does he want?” 

“We don’t know. He hasn’t tried to make any sort of contact.” 

“This seems to be a lot of damn contact if you asked me.” The words held a bit more venom than either expected from Crowley. 

“Listen, we can just send you back now. We don’t need to deal with your crap. Are you going to help us or not?” The look was all the answer that either of them needed. The demon was onboard. He really had been since they can come out with the reason for the summoning. “We need to know if she is being held down in Hell.” Before they were able to explain anything else, he was gone. 

Sam stared at the spot that Crowley had previously occupied. 

“Think he will find her?” 

“I sure hope so. In the meantime, let’s get our asses to work. Can’t rely on him to handle it all, especially if she isn’t there to begin with. He could be expecting us to think she is down there so he could have decided to lay low elsewhere.” Sam nodded and they both went to join back in with the other hunters to formulate some sort of plan. 

Sam had a hard time focusing on the meeting that they were having, for once not being able to put in too much of his own opinion. He was wholly distracted. He would have to clamp down on it soon if he was going to be of any help in finding and rescuing JD. If only they could catch a break, have their trust in the demon rewarded somehow. 

Just as someone was going to admonish him for not having his head in the game, Crowley reappeared as if to answer the very thoughts that Sam had been having about him in that moment. He looked frustrated. It didn’t go unnoticed by anyone in the room and the moral dropped even further as they allowed the fact that Crowley had failed settled over them. 

“I can’t find her anywhere but something is happening. I don’t know what it is but it is serious. There are a lot of whispers of your names, all three of the Winchester prodigies. Someone knows something. I just have to figure it out.” 

“Well figure it out quick! She could be in some real danger.” Both parties narrowed his eyes at the other. 

“You don’t think I don’t know that? She is with one of the most sadistic bastards that has ever graced existence.” Bobby stepped between the men, hands held out as if it would actually stop something from happening between them. 

“Calm down! We are focused on JD here. You two can go back to fighting like lovers later. Understood?” A serious, furious Bobby Singer was a bit of a terrifying sight and most tended to listen to him when he spoke in that sort of mood. Dean and Crowley were no different, even if it came as a slight surprise to the others in the room. 

“Get back to Hell and figure it out.” Crowley shook his head and decided to stick around for a few more moments, try to gather himself, and get some more information on what the motley crew would be doing on their end. If they didn’t work together, it was a possibility that they wouldn’t find JD before something really, really bad happened. It could get worse than being kidnapped from Satan, Crowley knew that much. Wherever she was, she was likely suffering and no one felt settled with that thought. It kept muscles twitching and chests heaving as they worked through what they knew and what they had to do to find her.


	7. The Winchester Sacrifice (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3/3
> 
> Sometimes a sister has to make the ultimate play to ensure her brothers are kept safe.
> 
> Trigger warning: Torture, death

The torture on a daily basis was becoming unbearable. It felt like an eternity that I had been tied to the chair, time passing in a way that I couldn’t count or judge. My sight hadn’t returned, or it wasn’t allowed to. One or the other, either way, I was stuck with the blackness that had enveloped me since the first moment I became conscious. At the end of every session, Lucifer would make sure that I was all but choking on my own blood, battered and broken almost beyond repair before he healed me. I had lost track of how many times it had happened and lost all sense of which one was worse. The pain was gut wrenching but the knowledge that I was back to normal for it to all start again the next time he paid a visit was soul breaking. I had given up the hope that someone would find me; that someone would come to my rescue. The only thing that kept me going and just not giving over to the mind numbing dullness that echoed in my ears constantly was the fact that I had not given him information on my brothers, that he was still as lost as he was since he had kidnapped me. If his attention was on me, it was off Sam and Dean. That was a victory enough for me. 

The door creaked open and the now familiar footfalls began to make their way in my direction. A small, involuntary whimper left my mouth. Even the strongest of minds would break with what he was doing and physically, emotionally, I was very broken. The mental aspect was coming soon, so very soon. The thin grasp I had on stable ground was shaky at best now. 

“Well, aren’t we looking chipper this morning? You know, this could all end if you just let me know where you brothers are right. It could all be over like that, no more pain, no more suffering. Think you have well proven your point. There isn’t a need to be stronger any longer. I know you don’t have it in you anymore.” The offer was more and more tempting every visit but with the picture of Sam flashing before my eyes, I shook my head with the little energy I had left before it hung downward, tears silently falling from my eyes. I couldn’t even speak any more, my voice hoarse and raw from the screaming that I had given into. “Oh, wrong answer sweetheart. I truly thought this would be the morning that you accepted the offer. Shame, though your screams do sound so pretty bouncing off this walls.” A shake worked its way through my body, an anticipation of what was about to come. A plea almost fell from my lips, begging for mercy finally. He wouldn’t listen but I was desperate. 

The slicing started on my thighs this time around. Shallow cuts really, not enough to cause any serious bleeding just yet. Muscles taunt and tense, sore and stuck from being in a chair for so long, tried to move away even though I knew that there was nowhere that I could go. My jaw cracked from the tension of my teeth gritting together, pained sounds escaping between them as the blade continued its journey over my skin. The cool metal worked up my stomach, the cuts becoming deeper as his patience seemed to be nonexistent today. 

“You have been a wonderful play thing and I have to admit that I respect the loyalty and devotion to your brothers. I didn’t think that humans were capable of it. But, time moves on and I have lost my use for you since you brothers didn’t seem all that concerned. There are more important things for me to tend to and while I could leave you with another demon who could torture you, that just doesn’t sound all that fun. I like you Winchesters to myself. So, today will be our last day.” He quieted down to allow the thought to sink it. It terrified me less than it should have. No, it was welcomed in a lot of ways. Death was a release from all of this. Even if I did end up in hell, at least it was my soul and the demons had to be less creative than the fallen angel that had been my only companion for who knew how long. There was at least a slim chance I could end up in heaven. It was comforting to think about, even if the chances were slim. A low sigh left me and the corners of my lips twitched upward. Sam and Dean would be safe, at least as safe as they could be with Lucifer hunting them down. But they wouldn’t be drawn into this trap, wouldn’t be hurt because they were trying to save me. I had done the job as best that I could and finally, it was drawing to a close. “Shame really. I could have really made use of you.”

The last syllable hadn’t left his mouth before the blade dug deep into my abdomen. Damn it, he was going to make me bleed out. I let out a guttural groan, more pained sounds escaping around it. My chest heaved as my body refused to listen to my mind, pain overwhelming. The door opened and closed once more though it was dimmed and fuzzy in my ears. Finally. 

Crowley came upon the room with a frown. It was silent today, which was odd. Normally there were muffled yells coming from it, though he was not sure who was in there or who was carrying out the torture. His intrigue got the best of him and he cracked open the door. 

Freezing in the doorway, his brain could not catch up to the sight before him. JD sat tied to a chair, bleeding from superficial wounds but that wasn’t what caught his attention. It was the gaping wound in her stomach that caused him to lose all functioning thought. 

“No, no, no.” Glancing around the halls, he didn’t see anyone wandering in his direction. He would have to work quickly, really quickly. She was bleeding out. Shaky hands removed the bindings that kept her stuck to the chair. She was breathing but barely and he reached out to cup her cheek in his palm. “I need you to open your eyes for me love. Come on, let me know you are still with me.” She wasn’t responsive right away, her head lulling to the side. Cursing under his breath, he scooped her out of the chair and hurried to a point where he could get himself to the Winchesters and their pet angel. He had to be able to heal her. 

He wasn’t sure where he was when his feet hit the ground again and frankly he didn’t care. 

“Moose! Squirrel!” Anyone really, he didn’t care which member of their little team came running through the door. All he knew was that someone needed to, quickly. He gently laid her down on the couch and brushed some hair from her eyes. “Come on Jules, you need to open your eyes. Just give me something here darling. Tell me you are still with us. Your brothers are coming. Castiel will be here. We are going to get you healed up.” Sam and Dean came skidding into the room, weapons drawn though they immediately fell to the floor when they noticed who it was on the couch.

“JD!” They rushed over and dropped to their knees, not bothering to pull Crowley away. “What happened?” 

“Found her like this. Where is that angel of yours? She has lost too much blood boys.”Dean closed his eyes and thought of the brunette that was needed. Crowley kept a hand pressed against her wound, eyes shooting to her face when her eyes finally fluttered open. Eyes moved though, it was as if she couldn’t see. 

“Crow…Crowley?” Her voice wasn’t her own, raw and harsh. She coughed harshly, her entire body convulsing with the movement that seemed wholly too painful for her to have to deal with. 

“Why isn’t he here yet?” I still couldn’t see but voices, as fuzzy as they were sounded familiar. I wouldn’t mistake that light Scottish lithe anywhere. That was Crowley. But what was he doing here? 

“I don’t know!” That sounded like Dean. A soft, familiar touch came to my face. That was Sam. No, they couldn’t see me like this. This was so unfair. I was just supposed to die. 

“Dean? Sam?” The sounds of crying reached my ears, through all the haze. 

“Hey, hey. It’s okay slugger. We are here. You are going to be okay alright? Cas is going to take care of this.” I struggled to get air into my lungs, feeling so incredibly weak, and the haze of unconsciousness trying to pull me under quicker than I wanted it to. Shaking my head, I knew that wasn’t the case this time around. I was going to die here and I was ready to face that, as much now as I had been tied to the chair. 

“Just keep focused on our voices. You don’t have to do anything anymore love.” Crowley spoke softly, almost as if knowing that this was it. He always had a good knack with those things. My one hand fell over his on my stomach, giving it a small, weak squeeze while the other sought out my brothers. 

“Safe.” They were safe and that was what mattered the most. 

“Yeah you are.” Sam, I could feel his lips against my forehead. “Don’t give up on us here. I know you are thinking it. Please JD.” His tears hit my face and I wanted to reassure them that it was okay, that I was okay with all of this and that they needed to just let me go but I couldn’t form the words. This was why it would have been better to die in the chair. They would have been angry, they would have grieved, but they wouldn’t have to sit and watch it happen, all out of their control. 

“Where is the damn angel?!” I allowed my eyes to slip close again, a ragged gasp passing my lips as the haze pulled harder and harder. I just had to give in. “Jules, you stay right here and do not give in. I have spent months searching through hell to find you and you aren’t allowed to go back yet.” 

“Love.” I winced as Crowley pressed down a bit harder on the wound as if he could physically seal it and stop the blood flow. “You.” To all of them really, they were the people that mattered most to me.

“No. You aren’t allowed to go. We still need you here. What are me and Sammy going to do when we can’t figure something out? Or when we can’t decide on a movie? Who is going to eat all the eggs? Who is going to make sure that baby is well cared for when I am being an ass?” The questions brought up good memories. That was more of a pleasant way to give in. With the smiles and laughter of days gone past wrapping me in warm arms. As much as I wanted to see them in these final moments, maybe it was better that I couldn’t see their tear stained faces, pleading eyes, devastated looks right then. It would have taken away the happy memories. We had all grieved too much in this life and I hated myself for adding this onto my brothers’ shoulders. It had kept Lucifer from Sam though and in the end, that was what mattered, making the whole thing worthwhile. They would be able to continue on without me, they were strong.All three of the men in the room. They would come out the other side stronger and better for it. My life wasn’t given in vain and I knew that they would destroy the threat to the rest of the world as they always would. The blackness crept in further, gently and soothingly beckoning me welcome and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to fend it off anymore. Instead, I gave in willingly, the corners of my lips twitched upward in a smile.


	8. Long Overdue (Julie Lestrade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie finally has a run in with her brother, years in the making.

It was not an easy task moving around London without catching the attention the Holmes brothers. It seemed that half the time, my brother was with the younger of the siblings. Which just further complicated things. If there was one thing that I didn't want during my time in the city, it was a run in with my brother. I had expertly avoided it for weeks, spending a lot of time ducking down alleyways and swerving through some of the less than savory parts of London. I didn't plan on allowing the confrontation to happen. But it seemed that fate had other ideas and things were out of my control as they often seemed to be.

It might have been a bit nicer if it had been a random chance happening, the sort that happens in the movies. Where one bumps into the other and oh hey look, it is the long lost sibling. They hug, cry a bit, and all is forgiven. It was nothing like that. Not even close. Not that I thought it would have happened like that anyway but it could have been a bit nicer than what it actually turned out to be. I was caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, as it always seemed to happen. Cuffs were slapped onto my wrists and I was forced down to the station. Another murder, as it often tended to be when I had to get involved because the supernatural just loved to off humans like they were ants. This one though? Well, it was a little harder to explain. I was dealing with a shapeshifter. Every single hunter on the planet hated dealing with the slimy, face changing beings. They caused havoc wherever they went and it was near impossible to pinpoint anything. Someone always took the fall for them that was innocent. The thought never sat well with me. And of course, to add frustration and pain to the case, here I was sitting in an interrogation room, waiting for someone to come and talk to me.

The door opened and I heard a soft sigh coming from whoever it was before they stepped into the room. I didn't look up right away, my heart racing as I hoped that some sort of luck would hold out for me and that it wouldn't be my brother. The file fell to the table, the silence stretching out longer and longer, indicating one thing. It was Greg that was in the room with me.

After a few more moments of the unbearable quiet that was near suffocating, I finally forced myself to look up. He had aged but had aged well. The silver hair that seemed to grab a hold of all the men in our family looked good on him. As fit as a DI would be, he held himself with an ease though that didn't signal the law enforcement that I was used to in the states. He looked tired though, there were bags under his eyes and a weariness in his movements. Guilt ate away at me instantly. I was a cause of that. He didn't need to say it, didn't need to acknowledge it but I knew it. Being around was causing him problems. Pulling my eyes from him, I tried to fight back the tears that threatened to spill, swallowing thickly. After nearly ten years of not seeing one another, this was how it ended up coming to a head.

"Are you even going to say anything?" This wasn't about the police business that had me here. This was about us, the relationship between brother and sister.

"What do you want me to say?" My voice was much softer than it usual was and didn't hold an edge, the sort that was needed to handle the men and the creatures that I had to tackle on a daily basis.

"Something. Anything!" Flinching at the way that his voice raised, it was me that let outa sigh this time. There was a million things to say but this wasn't the right time. My fingers played idly with one another atop of the table as I thought about what I could say in this moment. I was being held here for murder, no matter what I said, there was a line drawn between us. Siblings or not, he had a job to do and I had mine. Which included protection of him at all costs. "Julie..." I slammed my hands against the desk and tried to hold back any sort of other reaction. It had him leaning down against the desk though, trying to catch my eye.

"It's not the time Greg. I know how you feel and I know that you have a job to do. I didn't kill that woman, despite how it looks." I didn't have anyone to back me or the story, knowing full well that it would be my word versus whatever evidence that they found. Unless I ended up getting out of custody, the shifter was going to kill more people. Who would have known that London would become a supernatural hub?

"You were there with blood on your hands. What are we supposed to think?"

"I found her like that. She was dead by the time I got to her room."

"You realize that is an excuse that is overused right?" As if I didn't know that. No one actually believed it even though it was the truth and not an excuse. "What were you even doing there?"

"I was friends with her cousin Mark. The one that died a couple weeks back." Mark was a hunter that I had come across a few weeks back, right before he had died. He had been a good man and had requested that I watch out for what family that he had left, which had been his cousin Sarah. When the news of a shapeshifter popped up, I had to stop in and check on the woman. It had been too late when I arrived, though I had gotten a hit or two in on the shifter, unable to pull the trigger quick enough to bury silver into his heart.

"I don't want to believe that my sister is a killer but you are making it hard to deny what is right in front of me." I gritted my teeth, trying to not allow his words to bother me.

"I am not. If I was lying to you, I know you would know it. And I know for a fact that Mr. Holmes would too." I nodded towards the two way glass. I wasn't foolish enough to think that the man wouldn't be close. He would have heard through some network that I had been brought in and would likely be positively gleeful over it.

Greg glanced back at the glass and it was the only indication that I needed that I had been right. He moved to sit down, deciding to ignore Sherlock and whoever else was behind the glass. He looked at me, less studying and more like he did when we were kids and had gotten into arguments. It made me want to squirm. He had always been one of the only ones who had been able to do that to me without a single word uttered.

"It's better if you didn't Greg. Just...just don't." I shook my head, bringing my eyes down once more. As much as it killed me to say the words, it was better if he just continued to hate me, to resent me, to do anything other than care for me. It was too dangerous for him. He frowned and decided to open his mouth anyway and air out whatever it was that had been weighing him down for a long time. Even if it was something that neither of us really wanted to do.

"You don't really get a say in that do you?" He was right, even if there wasn't a sting to his voice, any sort of heat, the words still hurt and I would almost rather have him shout at me than talk in such a level headed manner. Anger was easier to deal with than hurt and disappointment. "You left without a word, vanishing without a trace. Not a goodbye, not an I am going to be fine. I didn't know if you were dead, if you had made it to wherever it was that you were going. Then you show back up and all this trouble is following you. How do you think I feel having to sit in this room with you, speaking to you for the first time in ten years and you are in handcuffs?" I tried to grab something on the table, something to be able to help calm myself. The tears were burning, welling up and making it hard to see. I wouldn't be able to keep them from falling for forever. Clearly the ideas that I had clung to so desperately to be able to keep myself moving and functioning were so far wrong that it wasn't funny. Maybe he had been angry and resentful in the beginning but it wasn't that way now. It couldn't be with the way that he was speaking with me.

"Would it have mattered? You never believed me anyway. You would have fought with me to come home, to give up what my life has become." I spoke softly, not looking to cause a fight but knowing that what I was speaking was the truth. "I save lives Greg, always have and always will. You were safer without me around, not knowing, being kept at a distance." He scoffed and shook his head.

"I can hold my own. It's my job to protect you as a little sister." It was my turn to shake my head.

"But you can't from all of this Greg. As much as you may have wanted to, you couldn't and still can't. You know as well as I do, denying it or not, there are things out there that go bump in the night. That no one can be protected forever. But I will do my best to try. I couldn't lose you too, I still can't. I would rather you hate me and be alive than be my big brother and be dead." That was the truth. If he was alive and happy, whatever that entailed but hated me, then so be it. It was a sacrifice that I was willing to make because his life wasn't one.

"None of that is real. We can get you help Julie. Please." A tear finally dropped down my face as I leaned down to wipe them away, face coming to rest almost against the table. I took a few calming breathings before giving him a small, sad smile.

"There is no help, not the kind you want to give me Greg." His frown deepened.

"Why won't you let me help you?" His voice was pained and it nearly killed me. I needed a drink, several actually to help break up memories of this moment.

"Because I need you alive." It was a simple response and maybe he didn't understand it but it was the truth. The knowledge of him being alive helped me fight harder each time, feel for that family a little bit more than I may have without him, strive to continually be a better person hunter or not. Greg would always be my big brother and I would love him dearly but I couldn't have a relationship with him. Maybe this long overdue meeting would help him come to terms with that.


	9. Like Father Like...Daughter? (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When John leaves the kids on their own, JD steps up and shows that she is just as capable as her brothers. Even if she is terrified.

We all knew growing up that we didn’t have a normal childhood. It didn’t take that long before that sort of knowledge was gathered. Talking to kids in whichever new school we were in, I found out that not everyone just had a dad, not everyone moved around every couple of weeks, not everyone lived in hotel rooms. Kids were cruel, looking for whatever weakness they could find and picking at it like vultures. I had become a bit of an outcast no matter where we were. But it didn’t matter much to me because I had Dad, I had Dean and Sam. Family was all that we needed to get through in the world. I clung to my family as tightly as I could. 

As I grew older, I did get a bit more impatient with the fact that Dad would teach some things to Dean and always had me watch Sammy. Like I couldn’t do the same things or something like that. I knew that I could. I could protect myself and my brothers when Dad was away. As he often was. We would be left in the hotel room with food and money to fend for ourselves, an escape plan always mapped out. Dean was always in charge, always reminded to look after Sam and I. When I tried to talk to Dad about it, he would brush it off, giving me a smile and a kiss to my forehead, saying that it was guy stuff. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t do things with me, because he did. When Dean and Sam were asleep, he would curl up with me and read, whatever new book that he had brought back with him. That was some of my favorite time with him, laying in a creaky, uncomfortable bed as he voiced out all the different characters. 

Despite that, I wanted to be treated equally to my brother. Bad things were out there and I knew that Dad took care of the bad things. He was teaching Dean how to do it but he was trying to keep me in the dark about it all. So, I took to watching from the window or listening from behind the door when I was told to go to the other room. I gathered up the knowledge like a sponge, just like Dean did. I practice swinging punches when I was on my own in the bathroom, occasionally getting Dean to wrestle with me to make sure that I could keep up with him. Dean would get nervous when we did it but in the end, his desire to play won out. 

Dad was going away for two, three days at the most this time around before we packed up and moved again. I didn’t know what he was chasing this time but he seemed a little more nervous than usual. As Sam and I sat and watched TV he was talking to Dean about what the plans were. Don’t open the door, keep an eye on us, shoot anything that wasn’t him, don’t leavethe room. They were the same rules that were laid out every time he left us on our own. We had stayed safe so far by following them. I watched the two out of the corner of my eye, trying to make it look like I wasn’t too interested in it. I knew that Dad wouldn’t like it. He came over and gave us both a kiss to our foreheads, whispering his love before moving towards the door and giving us all one last look. It was the same routine before he left for every one of these trips. I didn’t like to think about the fact that he might not make it back. It wasn’t in the realm of possibility. Dad was invincible, capable of handling anything and making it home to us. 

“What is it this time Dean?” I moved off the chair and over to my older brother who was sitting at the small table with a book. 

“I don’t know. Dad didn’t say…” I couldn’t tell if he was lying to me or not. Sometimes Dad didn’t explain everything, sometimes he did. Maybe this was one of those times that he didn’t. I tried to peak at the book but he closed it too quick for me to see what was in it. “You know I can’t let you do that.” 

“Dean, I can do anything you can.” 

“No you can’t. You’re a girl.” 

“So? I beat you at wrestling.” 

“I let you win.” 

“No you don’t.” I pouted a bit and crossed my arms. Why did he have to be so mean? 

“Just go back and watch TV with Sam, please JD.” 

“Fine.” I huffed and made my way back over to the seat, Sam shifting to let me back inmy spot. I kept my arms crossed and didn’t really watch the TV. I was too mad at Dean. I could do it, I knew I could. They wouldn’t let me. 

It had been a whole day since Dad had left and Dean and I were a little bored. Sam could watch TV all day long and never be bored but I didn’t have a new book to read and Dean was getting annoyed by the walking that I was doing around the room.  
“Sit down JD.” 

“I don’t want to. I’m bored. I don’t wanna watch any more TV.” 

“You can’t go outside.” 

“Why?” 

“Dad said we had to stay in here.” 

“But I just want to go right outside the door. I wouldn’t even go that far.” 

“No.” 

“Then let me read the book you are reading.” 

“No.” 

“Dean!” 

“No. Now stop acting like a baby!” I glared at him, flopping down onto one of the beds.

“You’re no fun.” 

“Dad’s rules.” 

“Stupid rules.” I grumbled under my breath, picking at the comforter that was below me. It was worn, the age of the motel we were staying at this time showing. Thankfully we wouldn’t be here too long. It smelled weird and was making Sam and I sneeze. I could hear Dean sigh before he sat down next to me. 

“You want to read some?” He held out the book he hadn’t let me see the other day. “You can’t tell Dad and you can’t have nightmares.” 

“I promise.” He handed over the book and moved to watch the cartoons with Sam for a little bit before we made some dinner for us all. I became quickly engrossed about all the monsters, eyes wide but unable to stop reading, even if I didn’t understand half of it. 

I had read more than Dean expected me to when he went to take the book back the next day. 

“If Dad comes back, he can’t see you reading it.” I whined but reluctantly gave the book back to him. He went to thank me when we heard some scratching at the door. Looking at each other, we both frowned and slowly began to move. Sammy was asleep on the bed still, sleeping in as he usual did. Dean went to the door and I climbed up on the little kitchen sink area to look out the window. It was a dog, just a cute dog. I wanted to play with it but knew that we couldn’t open the door. 

“It’s just a dog Dean.” 

“What kind of dog?” 

“I don’t know. A big one. Black and tan. It’s cute.” He was wagging his tail and pawing at the door still. “He isn’t going away. He wants in.” Dean banged on the door to try and scare him but it didn’t do anything. I shook my head when Dean asked if he was gone. 

“Come down. He’ll leave or Dad will scare him off when he gets back.” Something about the dog was making me uneasy as he continued to paw at the door. I didn’t think we should stop watching him but Dean would laugh at me if I said something, saying that I just wanted to play with him. And while part of me did, there was another part that wanted to not see him or hear him anymore. There was a part of me that was scared by him. 

It didn’t take long for something bad to happen. I was wearily watching the door while Dean was making lunch for all of us when the sound of glass breaking had me spinning to the window. The huge dog had jumped through the glass! Dean dropped the pot he had been holding and tried to move for the gun that he had close to him but the furry body launched at him. 

“Dean!” I glanced back to make sure that Sam was okay. “Shut the door Sam and don’t come out!” I yelled at my younger brother, not needing to worry about him too. The dog had Dean pinned to the floor and was going to take a bite out of him. I grabbed a fork from the table, it was the only thing close and jumped onto the dog’s back. 

“JD no!” I slammed the fork into the dog’s eye, making him howl out in pain. Clinging tightly to his back, I went for a ride as he bucked around, trying to turn his head and bite me. “JD move, I can’t shoot him with you on his back.” I pressed the fork down harder, crying some. This thing was going to hurt my brothers and I couldn’t allow that. He finally shook me off and I landed on some glass with a small cry. It hurt badly. Whimpering, I looked at the dog and he came towards me, teeth baring. I kicked out at it, trying to keep it further away. Trying to get to my feet, I grabbed another fork that had fallen, ready to jam it into the dog’s other eye if it wouldn’t stop. 

Then a loud shot rang out. There was no mistaking the sound of a gun firing. The dog dropped immediately, his head falling at my feet. Tears were streaming down my face but I looked up. Dean and Dad were standing there, guns aimed. They had both shot at it. I sighed in relief and moved to stand up. Dad looked down at Dean and then looked at me. 

“You okay Dean?” 

“Yeah Dad.” 

“JD come here.” He was moving towards me though when he spoke and I met him halfway. He knelt down and looked at my hands and my side before pulling me into a hug. “Let’s get you clean up sweetheart.” 

“I’m okay Dad.” Which was a lie. I hurt everywhere but I wanted to show him that I wasn’t weak. 

“Don’t lie to me.” 

“I am Dad.” He sighed softly and opened the door to the bathroom before setting me down on the edge of the tub. He worked on cleaning my hand before taking a look at my side. 

“You did a good job Jules.” I looked up at him wide eyed when he spoke. I had thought that he would be mad with me for breaking the rules even though I had saved Dean. 

“You aren’t mad?” 

“Why would I be mad? You protected your brothers and yourself.” The cuts on my side hurt as he cleaned them and put some bandages on them. He muttered a couple times under his breath, things that I couldn’t make out. 

“You said that it was guy stuff.” He sighed again and brushed some of my hair back. 

“Maybe but you are a Winchester so I guess it’s just as much your stuff as it is your brothers.”


	10. Poor Control (Kathleen O'Rourke)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kathleen flees the tower in search of some peace, afraid that she will end up causing more damage than help with the Avengers, perhaps even to some of them.

Freak. Outcast. Loner. Mutant. I had heard it all before, more times than I could count. The words circled around my head often enough, though I tried to keep them beat back. Most of those around me wouldn’t be happy to know that I often let them get to me. When I stayed to my room, asked for time to be alone, it was when the voices were the loudest and I needed the time to find my center again. It didn’t help that I was lacking a lot of control over myself during those moments. Meaning it was dangerous to be around anyone on the team during those moments, which just added to the negative thoughts. I couldn’t allow myself to bring harm to any of them because I was incapable of handling my emotions and my abilities. 

As it was, my room could have been a dangerous place to be. It had occurred once or twice where the power in the tower had flickered, threatening to go out as I rode the ups and downs of my emotions. I had tried to rid the room of anything technology based, choosing candles for lights and pen and paper over any laptop. Books were my form of entertainment. But it was still connected to the tower and that was where the problem lay if someone worked me up or I lost myself to those voices. They tried to understand, tried to help but most of the time, they had no clue what to do, what they could possibly come close to doing to help me out of the hole that I had dug myself. 

Steve was the one who often found himself standing outside my door. He was the one I was closest to on the entire team. Maybe it was because we both felt out of place, him being in the wrong decade and me, well me being among the wrong species it seemed. Or at least often felt like. I wasn’t as afraid of hurting him, knowing that it would take a hell of a lot to manage so. The others? Natasha still intimidated me a bit, Clint I didn’t mind as much but he never took the opportunity, Bruce couldn’t be around least he get triggered himself, and I refused to have Tony around least I end up doing something to the arc reactor. No one but Steve understood that I didn’t have full control of my powers, especially in moments like these. I was afraid that it would cause any trust that they had in me to fail and I wasn’t ready to face any of that. This was the second closest thing to a home that I had found and I did not want to lose it now that the home that I did have was no longer a place that I could stay permanently. 

This time around, I did not want to even see Steve. I could feel the sparks flying around my fingertips as I pulled the electricity from the walls. So, I did the next best thing. I had Steve call the one person who would be able to help calm me down, help me find my center and made sure that I didn’t harm anyone. 

Stephen Strange. Cocky, arrogant, former neurosurgeon extraordinaire, and Sorcerer Supreme. Well, maybe less cocky and arrogant than he was before he had his eyes opened to the world beyond the comprehension of most. The man was like a god send for me really. He had found me when I was young, taken me in at the Sanctum and taught me. He helped me channel and learn to control the frightening abilities that I had discovered when I was sixteen. He had patience greater than expected. Why I was lucky enough, I would never know but I had learned to not question it long ago. 

It didn’t take long for the familiar portal to show up in the room. I sigh of relief escaped my lips before I could stop it and then his face appeared. Brow cocked, he didn’t say a word. None were needed, it was a silent challenge and yet invitation to step through. As soon as I had passed, the portal shut and my shoulders fell. There was a lot less technology here for me to feed off of. The mystic energy helped calm down that which was man made. My eyes fell shut and I searched hard for that core to deepen the relaxed sensation that was washing over me. 

“What was it this time?” 

“Actually it was an argument with Tony.” I spoke meekly, as if afraid that he would be disappointed in me. I may have been an Avenger but the man was still my mentor, my teacher, the one individual that I strove to get constant approval from. He didn’t say anything right away and I was not all that fond of the idea of turning to look at him so I remained in the dark about whether or not he approved of me calling out for his help. 

“It was smart of you to get out of the tower.” I let out a rush of air, not realizing that I had been holding it in to begin with. 

“I didn’t want to risk hurting him. Steve didn’t even question the move.” I felt a warm hand rest on my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. He chose not to comment any further on the situation, didn’t ask what the argument had been about. No, he was who he was and that was what I took comfort in. 

“Let us go meditate.” I nodded and followed him without a word. 

After a few hours of meditating and calm talking, Stephen explaining some new threat that he had felt and the new dimension that he had visited, I felt thoroughly relaxed and calm. Mentally, I was back on level ground and I could never express the sort of gratitude that I felt for Stephen in moments like these. We were sipping tea in a comfortable silence when Wong came into the room. He paused before managing to say what he needed to say. 

“There are a two men at the door, asking to see Miss O’Rourke.” I let out a small sigh. One had to be Steve. He was probably worried, the poor guy. I could have at least left him a note in case he had decided to come into the room to check on me. That was my fault. As far as the other went, I wasn’t sure which one would decide to accompany him. Maybe Clint? Maybe Bruce? Probably Bruce as he was more caring than what he let on. And the scientist in him was always curious, as much as he tried to restrain it. 

“Are you capable of handling them?” It was more for their safety than my own, that much I knew when the question left his mouth. I took another sip of my tea before nodding. I was in a much better spot now than I had been before. I couldn’t shy away from them forever. As much as I had wanted to after today. Standing up, I passed along a smile to Stephen as he remained sitting, as if he was going to meditate again. 

“Thank you. I will be back shortly.” He nodded before closing his eyes and I knew that he was gone already. Rolling my shoulders and working out some of the stiffness from sitting in the same position for so long, I followed Wong to the door where he let the two men in. It came as no surprise when Steve was the first one through the door, relief crossing his face when he saw me standing safe and in one piece. He pulled me into a brief hug before stepping back. What did come as a surprise was seeing Tony step through the door afterward. That was unexpected. 

“I couldn’t keep him from following me. Sorry.” I glanced towards the blond before nodding, showing him that I didn’t hold him responsible. I bit the inside of my cheek, waiting for some snide or biting comment to come from Tony in regards to the Sanctum. It was no secret that the man was not a believer in the mystic arts, in magic, that he thought he would be able to logically explain everything always. Nothing did though as he just looked around before his eyes landed on me. I took a calming breath and just barely kept from rubbing my fingers together. A nervous habit that just built up electrical energy. 

“You okay?” His hands were stuffed into his pockets, head cocked to the side slightly. There wasn’t his usual quip there, it was a genuine question. 

“Am now.” 

“You wanna explain why you ran off?” My eyes darted around the room to the threemen. Wong was giving me a gentle smile, a small nod of his head before he backed out of the room. It was reassurance. Steve did the same before I was able to focus back on Tony. 

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone at the tower or cause any problems.” I shrugged at the simple explanation though my heart was thrumming hard in my chest and my palms were sweating just a bit. His brow furrowed for a moment as he worked through the words. 

“You wouldn’t…” I cut him off before he could finish the statement. 

“I wouldn’t but I could, even if I didn’t want to. I don’t exactly have the tightest control over my abilities, especially when I’m not exactly in control of my own emotions.” I swallowed hard, the argument coming back to mind. It had been stupid really. He had been trying to shove more technology at me and I had snapped a bit harsher than intended and it devolved from there quickly. “I refused to hurt any of you. But I’m most nervous around you Tony. The last thing I want to do is short circuit your reactor or drain energy from it. I mean, I could kill you if I let myself get too angry or too upset and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I even so much as caused a gasp to come from you because I messed with that thing.” I ran a hand through my hair and tried to get from getting too emotional over it. I took comfort in my surroundings, in the feeling of the mystic energy, knowing that Stephen was just a few rooms over. 

“If I don’t trust myself, I know that you guys can’t trust me. I’m sorry for keeping it from you so long. Stephen helps me keep that center with the meditation and the mystic energy that holds to this place. So, that is why I retreated here.” I dropped my gaze. “If you want my stuff out of the tower, I understand.” I heard some feet shuffling, probably a silent conversation going on between Steve and Tony. They often did that. 

“We aren’t going to kick you out Kate.” That was Steve. I glanced up at him to see a small smile playing at his lips. 

“Would have been nice to know before I pushed your buttons but hey, whatever. Besides, if you are able to do that, it means I still have problems that need to be worked on. Can’t have others realizing that there is something that they can do to the reactor.” He seemed a little too at ease with the whole thing but I found myself not wanting to question it in the moment. I would later, when I was alone but the fact that I could go back to the tower was sitting in front of me. It was too good to pass up. 

“You sure about that?” 

“Yeah, I’ll even recruit you to the lab to help me figure it out. Wouldn’t be all that hard.” I nearly rolled my eyes. Of course he would say that it wouldn’t be all that hard. 

“How about we get out of here. There is still the dinner that we need to get ready for.” I had nearly forgotten that we had a charity dinner that we had to make an appearance for. 

“Of course. Let me just go let Stephen know and I’ll be ready.” They nodded and let me go off. Poor control of my powers or not, I had people around me who cared and who were willing to help. That was what mattered in the end.


	11. Welcome to My World (Julie Lestrade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie ends up involved in a hunt that proves to be a little more than she can handle. She gets some help from an unwelcome and unlikely source.

I let out a strong curse under my breath as my back hit the wall. It had to be a nest of vampires when I was out on my own. Older, powerful vampires. And they knew their way around a hunter. Meaning that they had run into more than one of us before. Blood was on their hands and it tightened my chest, boiled anger in blood. I was going to make sure to destroy every ounce of their nest and of their existence around this town. Gulping down the air into my abused lungs, I worked to calm myself and ready for the next confrontation. There was a pouch of dead man’s blood in my pack along with a couple of knife. The gun sat at my side, just to slow them down a bit. Six against one were odds that never worked in anyone’s favor, whether I knew how to stop them or not. My fingers readjusted their grip on the blade that was in my other hand before I took off once more. Picking my way among the trees, it was hard work to not trip over my own feet with all the underbrush that was littering the forest floor. I could hear one of them closing in, laughter echoing in my ears and in the empty space surrounding us. This was not the way that I was going to go down. Not from some blood suckers. No, no that was much too weak an exit for me. I wanted something stronger, something far worse to end it if this was going to be how it ended. I wanted hunters to talk about it for years to come, my death to become legend and lore. A bit selfish sure but those sort of thoughts also helped fuel my movements, keep my mind sharp. It was a motivation sort of drill, not allowing me to succumb to the inevitable when it seemed like I had no other option. 

I stumbled through into a clearing and whirled around, blade out and gun held up. I near snarl, more animalistic than I thought I was capable of, tore from my lips as I watched two of the women approach. Each wore matching, amused and malicious grins. There was nothing but evil intent in their eyes as they stalked forward, teeth exposed to the world. 

“You think I am going to let you take me down that easily? If I am going down, I am taking your whole nest with me.” They laughed and didn’t stop their trek. 

“Hunters are so adorable. Thinking that they are better and can outsmart us. I wonder if she will be as tasty as the last.” 

“Oh, how he pleaded for mercy, I can still hear it now. Please, don’t. I won’t say anything, I won’t kill another vampire.” The anger grew as they spoke so casually about another human life, another hunter that had fought just like I had, that had likely sacrificed everything in their lives like I had.

“Enough talk. You want to kill me, I would like to see you try. Let’s get this over with.” Before another one of them could step forward, I heard a shot ring out. It wasn’t from my gun. If there was another hunter behind me, I was going to welcome them with open arms. If it was anyone else, well I was going to be more than upset and focused on getting them out alive rather than taking down the remaining vampires. Civilians always threw a monkey wrench into the plans and made things twice as difficult as they needed to be. 

My luck seemed to be holding its downward trend when I looked over my shoulder and saw the form of Sherlock standing there. The man would have followed me here. 

“Bad idea Sherlock. Back it up right now.” The one he had hit pulled herself off the tree that she had been leaning against. Holstering my pistol, I reached for the pouch of blood in my pack and immediately lathered my blade in it. The two seemed a little more leery of stepping forward seeing the action. I made my way back to stand beside Sherlock, unsure where the others were at the moment and I didn’t need them taking him to get my attention. 

“What do these women want to kill you over?” 

“Oh, the usual. Found their nest, threatened their leader, and killed one of their friends. Now, I don’t really have time to an explanation if you want to make it out of this alive. Listen and listen closely.” When one of them stepped too close, I hurled the blade and my aim was true. It hit dead center of her chest, the blood acting immediately. The other shriek and tried to step forward but I shot at her skull, temporarily giving us a few more seconds. “You are going to run alongside me and keep up. I am going to give you a blade covered in dead men’s blood. Anyone comes at you, you stab them with it until I say it’s safe not too alright? She isn’t going to stay down for long, friend there or not so we have to get moving.” He seemed confused as I tugged another knife and coated it before handing it over. He took it nonetheless and we began to move before breaking out in a run. I wanted to head back and finish off the vampire but the man beside me was now a more pressing concern. 

“Tell me you are here alone.” 

“No, your brother insisted on coming.” 

“Son of a bitch.” Greg wouldn’t let things go. “You are both absolute morons. If there is a single hair on his head harmed because you were a fool to follow after me, there will be hell to pay Sherlock.” I grunted out the words as we continued to run, dodging among the trees. Everything was going according to plan for the most part until I was tackled to the ground. The familiar hiss and gnashing of fangs together told me that I had a vampire tackle me. I swung my own blade but it missed its mark. I was tired and my movements were getting sloppy. I bucked and rolled my body, fighting with the creature before I heard it gasp. Sherlock was above the both of us, blade in hand. It had entered the back of the vampires neck, severing the spine and infecting him with the blood. Pushing off the dead weight, I made sure to cleanly severe the head before giving him a nod of thanks. 

“That shouldn’t be possible.” 

“Yeah, well it is. Welcome to my world. Things that go bump in the night are real. We don’t have time to this right now. We need to keep moving. There are the two girls we left behind and another three of them out there.” I winced, feeling like my ribs were thoroughly bruised from how hard the body had landed against mine. That was going to make running difficult but it was a matter of life and death. I could suck it up. Plus there was Greg that I had to worry about. “Lead the way back to Greg. Now.” 

We didn’t run into any more vampires on the way back to the car where Greg was pacing up and down, muttering to himself, a cigarette hanging from between his lips. I was relieved more than I could put into words to see him there, even angry and agitated. He was alive and well. I ran a hand through my hair and doubled over for a moment, taking deep breaths to try and calm my breathing down. 

“In the car now. The both of you.” The words came between pants, ordering them though it appeared I was in no shape to do so. “They followed us here. Before they decide it’s safe to attack, let’s go.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“It would be smart to listen to her Graham. Get into the car.” I was thankful that Sherlock was not putting up a fight. It meant that Greg would be less likely to. 

“What is going on?” I moved forward and shoved him towards the car, impatience rising as well as the hairs on the back of my neck. 

“In. Now.” There was no room for arguments as the twigs snapped behind us. I spun on my heel, making sure that my body was shielding my brothers. 

“She brought us another few meals. How generous of her.” I stepped forward and brandished the blades that I had left. 

“You aren’t touching them.” 

“It’s adorable that you think you have any choice in the matter. If you weren’t a hunter, I would consider turning you. You would make one hell of a vampire.” I snorted and kicked behind me at the car to get them moving. I could handle the three that had appeared. I would have to. They didn’t have anything that would do any damage to them, they would just put themselves in danger. I would be concerned with them over my own actions so, it would be better for all parties for them to get out of the area. 

Immediately, we launched at one another. He moved to swipe the knife out of my hand but I managed to avoid the majority of the blow, gritting my teeth as my arm tried to bend in an unnatural direction. I lashed out with my other hand, the punch not doing much but enough to get him to stagger back for just a moment. The other two were closing in around me and didn’t leave me a lot of time to recover and prepare for another attack. 

Another shot rang out and I watched as one of vampires dropped to the ground, gasping and writing in pain. I didn’t have time to look over my shoulder. They had stayed but right now, I couldn’t worry about it. Managing to nick a second on the arm, not enough to down her but enough to slow her down enough that I could focus on the bigger man that was coming back at me. Another shot but I wasn’t sure who or where it hit. 

“You are going to die. I am personally going to make sure that your nest doesn’t survive.” 

“You’re just a human, what do you think you could possibly do.” 

“This.” I spun out of his hold and lunged forward, burying my blade into his thigh. It stopped him and made him fall to his knees. His eyes were already hazy and closing as he tried to fall forward and bite me. The three that had appeared were all laying on the ground, incapacitated or now. Glancing backwards, I saw Sherlock lowering his gun. Greg was doing the same. The brunette held up my pack. 

“Bullets seem just as effective when they are dipped in the blood.” I nearly laughed but didn’t have it in me right then. 

“Let’s finish these three off. There are still another two we have to worry about.” I turned my blade to the male in front of me, quickly carrying out my work. I wasn’t going to be getting help from either of them it seemed as neither of them made a move to come over to me. Greg looked a bit shaken but Sherlock was oddly calm about the whole thing. Then again, he could be internally freaking out inside and not showing it externally. There was no coming back from this, they knew what was out there. I now had to worry about Greg more but also deal with Sherlock and what sort of chaos that his mind could create with the new possibilities that lay in front of him. As if my life wasn’t complicated enough.


	12. Not All Monsters Are Evil (Aideen Walsh)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based off the mythology of the Irish Werewolf, guardian and protector of children, wounded men, and lost persons.
> 
> Aideen falls victim to a monster in the shadows but luckily there is another monster waiting to save her.

My lungs and legs burned as I continued running for my life. I didn’t know what it was that was behind me but I knew that if I stopped I would end up dead. It had already killed my family, pulling them to pieces in front of me. Their blood was still drying against my clothing as I stumbled and pushed through the forest. Tears were falling down my cheeks without me actually realizing it, an unconscious decision on my body’s part. I couldn’t think straight even if I wanted to at the moment, everything that I had seen sending me into shock. Right now, my entire being was running on survival mode, the pure instinct of fight of flight. I could hear the heavy creature crashing through the trees behind me, closing the distance fast. I wasn’t going tobe able to outrun it. It had bene foolish to try but I didn’t want to die. It was as bad as those cliché movie scenes but there was nothing I could do about it. 

I was proud of the fact that I didn’t manage to trip over anything as I pushed as hard as I could, praying that something, someone would come and help me. Terror filled my veins and slowly, it was affecting my movements. I became a bit clumsier as I thought about the thing behind me catching me, tearing me limb from limb like it had father. His screams were still echoing in my ears, almost cancelling out the harsh pants that escaped my lips, the pounding of blood as it coursed through me. 

My feet went out from under me as something caught my ankle, dragging me backwards. I let out a scream, unable to help myself, the fear winning out. 

“No, no. I don’t want to die.” I sobbed the words out, clawing desperately at the dirt in an attempt to keep myself from being pulled back any further. It was futile but it was the last ditch attempt that I had before I ended up dying. I felt something pierce into my legs, warm blood rushing down to my feet and into the dirt. It was agonizing, the pain ripping up my legs and making my eyes go cross as my hands went slack in the dirt. 

That was when another snarl rang out into the night. It was an equally terrifying sound as it seemed to come from all sides. Now I was going to have two things devour me. What did I do to deserve this? The pain was still present but nothing new was happening, it wasn’t increasing as I lay there, no longer feeling the touch of the giant creature. The snarling of the other thing that was out there seemed to have catch its attention. I curled up into a ball, crying as I tried to force back the pain. I couldn’t move just yet, too overwhelmed and too thrown out of sorts. Another snarl came and before I could comprehend what was going on a large silver form came flying over me. It tackled the creature that had been chasing me. Let them fight it out, let them kill each other for all I cared right then. It was a chance to try and put some distance between me and them. Even if I couldn’t get far, it would make me feel a little better than just lying there and waiting for my death. I put one arm in front of the other and more or less army crawled away from the scene. My legs were all but useless and each movement was causing jolts of pain to spark up my spine and cause spots to appear in my vision. The sounds of the fight were filling the empty space around me. I had found nothing peaceful about the woods and now never would. No, a dark empty woods would forever bring up nightmares if I made it out of this. 

Whimpering, I continued to pull myself forward until the pain became too much. My forehead hit the dirt and I drew in a few shaky breaths, trying to push away the dizziness and haze that was threatening to pull me into an unconscious state. Squeezing my eyes shut, I began to mutter a soft prayer, knowing that this was the end, that I was going to end up meeting the same end as the rest of my family. 

That was when I felt a cool rush of air working over my exposed skin on my legs. It didn’t feel like the first thing that had been chasing after me and I squirmed, attempting to distance myself but I had no energy left, no control over my own body any more. No more pain came though, not right away. No the rush of air continued, it was the breath of the creature as it worked its way over my wounds. I kept my eyes shut, not sure if I wanted to see what was going to eat me this time around. Something soft was pressed against my hand, then cold. A nose. Risking a glance, I saw a giant wolf like creature. Was I starting at a werewolf? After what had happened earlier in the night, I couldn’t believe that anything was fantasy or myth anymore. 

He wasn’t growling, he wasn’t attempting to pick me apart into smaller pieces to chew on. In fact, he was pressing against my hand almost like a dog would. His muzzle was covered in blood, painting a terrifying picture really to contrast the actions. Swallowing hard, I managed to unfurl my fingers to gently place them on his snout. It seemed to be the approved action. It just all added to the surreal feeling of the night. He wasn’t going to kill me, at least right now. I shut my eyes again, letting out another small whimper as he brushed against the wounds on my legs. His snout vanished from beneath my hands. I wasn’t going to be able to hold onto my awareness much longer. Too much stress, too much blood loss and the adrenaline had worn off. 

Groaning softly, I managed to crack open my eyes as sunlight was hitting my face directly. I reached up to rub my face for a moment, trying to understand why the bed beneath me felt so much different than my own. Then the night came flooding back to me and I shot up into a seated position. The room wasn’t familiar as I frantically looked around and tried to figure out where I was and how I was alive. It didn’t make sense. I went to swing my legs off of the mattress to get up but had to stop as a wave of pain threatened to send me right back to said mattress in a tightly curled ball. Pulling back the blanket that covered me, I saw my legs were tightly wrapped. Gauze greeted me, none of it red indicating that they were likely fresh. I didn’t know what was going on. Who had found me? Who had helped me? What had happened? 

The door cracked open and my head snapped to its direction. A man poked his head through, eyes a little wide to see me awake and sitting up. A bit of a soft smile came to his face as he pushed the door open fully and stepped into the room. He looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place him at the moment. My brain was a whirlwind of activity and nothing was making all that much sense. 

“Good to see you awake.” I pulled the blanket back up over me, I wasn’t sure why but it granted me a small sense of comfort. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to or not. There was more damage than I expected on your legs.” He motioned towards where the bandages were hidden before setting down some tea and some toast. 

“You did that?” I nodded towards my legs. 

“If you mean clean and patch you up, then yes I did. Wasn’t the one that tore you to shreds though.” There was a gleam in his eyes, he knew something and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know. 

“What happened?” 

“What do you remember?” I looked away from him, fingers curling into the blanket a bit more as I tried to sort out the memories from last night. If they were even that and not something that my mind had made up to deal with whatever trauma I had suffered. 

“I uh…” Licking my lips a bit nervously, I tried to figure out where to begin. “Not a lot. There was a lot of blood, screaming from my parents. They didn’t make it. I don’t know who it was but they…they were vicious and cruel.” I shook a bit as I recalled that particular part of the night. He remained silent but his eyes were still trained on me, letting me know that he still wanted more. He wasn’t letting me get away with just that. Letting out a slow breath to try and calm myself down a bit, I tried to focus on what had happened after all of that. 

“I took off running, through the woods. I don’t know how far or long it was before I was brought up. I remember some snarling, animal sounds really. After that…” I shrugged a bit, to wanting to tell him that whatever it was that had saved me was a creature. He would think me crazy. Enough people already were going to, though they would think it came about with good reason with what I had been through. 

“Snarling?” I didn’t look at him to see him pushing a bit. 

“Yeah, like a…I don’t know like a wolf.” I glanced up to see a passing smirk cross over his face. Clueless as to what that was about, I looked back down to the bed. He sighed softly before deciding to take up a chair that was close to the bed. 

“What’s your name love?” 

“Aideen. Aideen Walsh.” I licked my lips and found it in myself to focus on him. He was the one who was helping me, he deserved some respect here. “Thank you for helping me Mr…” 

“Galen O’Shay.” Oh god, O’Shay? The man was a big name in the true IRA, he was a person not to be messed with. And here I was sitting in his bed, in his debt. Another smirk worked across his face as I am sure that my face showed the shock that I was feeling. “Sorry about your parents. They were good people.” He seemed genuine when he spoke and I wasn’t sure how to take that. I nodded my thanks and blinked several times to try to get myself out of my stupor. 

“Thank you.” 

“Now, I know that you aren’t telling me the whole truth about last night. You want to try and explain in a bit more detail what happened?” I did not want to make this man angry but at the same time, I did not want to handle going through what happened. “Tell me what you remember about the end of the night. About what saved you.” 

“Did you see it?” He remained silent, telling me that he wasn’t going to answer my question until I satisfied his curiosity. “I remember soft fur, the growls that came from it were dog like. It was a, I don’t know, it was a wolf but it wasn’t. It was massive but gentle. It didn’t want to kill me, at least I don’t think he did.” I had dropped my gaze once more, unable to look at him as I recounted what was surely something my mind made up, even at his insistence. 

“Good, good.” He nodded and seemed pleased with the details that I had been able to pull forth. My brow furrowed in confusion as he spoke, I wasn’t sure why he was pleased with it. He knew something and he wasn’t letting me in on the joke. Whatever it was though, I knew that it was going to be important.


	13. First Impressions (Cassidy Duggins)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassidy Duggins has her first run in with the Butcher of Belfast himself when she has to handle a business problem.

A smirk curled my lips as I took in the sight of the men littering the bar, glasses of beer and shots of whiskey being passed around as laughter took over the area. It was nice to see them relaxing and enjoying themselves. We had had a rough few weeks but things were getting back on track now and I found it acceptable that they were given some time to fool around. I took my own small decanter of whiskey, choosing to keep my head on my shoulders. Let my brothers losing themselves in their drink and some women. The supply shipment would be arriving in two days and I wanted to have my wits about me tomorrow to make the few calls that I needed to make and have everything in order. The guys might be the face of the family operation but I was the brains. I kept things running and kept our partners happy. Shawn slid into the seat next to me, a grin on his face and a beer in his hand.

"Come on Cas. Enjoy the evening. Things are good, we got it under control. Live a little sis." I nearly laughed at the goofy look that came over his face. My brothers could be idiots but I loved them dearly. They were family and I wouldn't trade them for the world.

"One of us has to keep their heads on their shoulders and Lord knows if I let one of you handle things, we will be up shits creek without a paddle." He pouted and rolled his eyes, letting out a playful whine.

"Why are you so mean?" I reached out and patted his cheek gently, shaking my head just a bit.

"Someone has to keep you all grounded. Let you go on your own and your egos would be so big that you wouldn't be able to get into the bar."

"Love you too Cas." I nodded my head back towards the rest of the room where some music was starting.

"Why don't you go show 'em how a Duggins does it huh? Get the lads another round too, on me." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead before standing up and heading over to the group that was getting ready to clear some tables and carry out some form of a hilarious, poorly done jig.

I watched the way that they all made fools of themselves for some time before I felt my phone vibrate. Pulling the device out of a pocket of my jacket, glancing down at the unknown number. I stared at it for a few seconds before I decided that it was smart to answer it in case it was business related. Standing up, I made my way to the alleyway beside the bar, answering with a quiet hello before even getting outside.

"Am I talking with Cassidy Duggins?" I cocked a brow and braced myself against the side of the wall. I debated giving out a false name, not knowing who was at the other end of the line. The life that we led meant that we always had to be careful. There was a bit of a familiar Irish lithe to the voice though and I fought against the initial urge.

"This is she."

"There is some business we need to discuss."

"I'm listening." I kept my answers short, wanting to know who I was dealing with before I ended up giving away too much information. I glanced around the alleyway, not noting any bodies that were lingering or anything that indicated anyone was watching.

"Seems that one of your men has been causing some problems." I gritted my teeth, already knowing where this was going. There had been whispers of Johnny deciding that what we were doing wasn't worth it, that he didn't want the life anymore. He was a kid we had taken off the street and had given a lot to. So, I had wanted to deny it at first but loyalty was hard to find these days. I wasn't going to jeopardize everything that my parents had built up, that we had built up for the sake of some sentimental feelings. So, two days ago, I had put my youngest brother Reilly on it. It was best to have information before we ended up harming someone who may not have betrayed us.

"You're talking about Johnny."

"So you aren't as unaware of the situation as we thought." Licking my lips, I crossed my one arm over my chest as I listening to the voice over the phone speak. My head was clicking things together slowly. I could very well be talking to a higher up in the cause right now and I had to make sure that I answered all the questions right or we would be in a lot of trouble. Sure we moved a lot of guns, a huge chunk of their east coast line but any hint of betrayal was viewed as absolutely unacceptable. They would find a new way to keep things moving and money flowing if we were no longer viewed as capable or trustworthy. "And what are you doing about it?"

"I am going to eliminate the problem at all costs. Nothing is allowed to compromise what we have built and the lines that the cause have." The answer seemed to have pleased him, whoever it was on the other end of the line. That alone had me resting a bit easier.

"I expect it to be handled by the time the shipment arrives."

"Of course. It will be done by tomorrow afternoon." The confidence dripped from my voice though I felt anything close to that level. I couldn't let him in on that though.

"Good." It was the last thing that I got before a click was heard. I pulled the phone away from my ear and cursed softly before closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath. No need to get riled up. That was not going to serve any purpose. No, level heads worked better than emotional, I knew that and had to follow through on it.

**************************************

I accompanied my brothers for the arrival of the shipment, feeling the need to be seen after the phone call that I had gotten. Clearly someone knew who really was heading things and while I didn't think that the Kings would approve, I decided to not question it. We had run things that way for quite some time and it had been working well for us. Johnny, as promised had been dealt with before lunch yesterday. Shawn had put the bullet into his skull personally while I had been there to supervise. Not that I was above getting my hands dirty but someone had to keep some sort of front for the police if they came sniffing around. As far as they knew, I was the college kid that came from a rough family.

Dressing smart, I stood beside my rough and tumble brothers, looking every bit the handler and brains of the operation. My back remained straight and I kept the needed pose to show these men that I meant business. The truck came rolling up and I watched as my brothers posture stiffened just a bit. They weren't all that pleased that I was present and I knew that they would be protective. It only worsened when the man stepped out of the car. I heard Reilly mutter softly under his breath and I just refrained from reaching out and smacking him upside the head. It was unprofessional and rude.

Turning my attention to the man, I took in the suit, the air of power that he carried around with him, and the respect that his men were showing him. This wasn't the normal drop guy; that much was clear as day. I didn't need to be at the shipments to know that, even if I knew the guys face by heart. In case anything were to happen of course. His eyes ran over us before they stopped on me and a smirk came to his face. I fought one of my own, finding myself more relaxed than I probably should have been given the circumstances.

"Nice to finally meet the woman running the organization." The lithe flowed over me and it took a distracted second for me to connect his being with the one that had called me two nights ago. I was still a human and was affected by certain things after all and I was a sucker for that brogue. Pulling myself from around my brothers, I stepped forward and held out a hand for the obvious IRA king.

"Cassidy Duggins. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Galen." He gave me a firm shake with that smirk still on his face. "Our little problem taken care of?"

"Personally saw to it."

"That a girl. Now, shall we get down to business?" I had to stay on top of my game here, I couldn't let him throw me off.

"Of course." I motioned for Shawn to follow me over to the back of the truck. He was the one who normally handled this situations. It would be best for me to have him beside me. It also kept the rest of my brothers calm, having him close to me. It was sweet really even if I could have handled myself.

We peaked through the crates, noticing that the stock had nearly doubled. I glanced at Shawn, already crunching the numbers in my head and working out the logistics of the larger number. Our normal buyers weren't about to take more in, they couldn't risk it. There were a few other avenues that I had been looking into that were a little more reliable and a little less risky but I had yet to discuss it with the rest of the family. Shawn huffed a bit and I closed my eyes ashis mouth got the better of him.

"This is more than usual. We can't..." I couldn't help myself as I stepped in, not wanting things to turn sour.

"We'll handle it. There has been some new business opportunities that popped up and if they prove to be worthy and reliable, we should have no problem moving the increased stock. May even be able to move more if it all works out." Galen was amused as he watched how I took over the situation, it was clear as day as he looked between the two of us.

"That was what I was expecting to hear. Same deal as before." I bite the inside of my cheek, knowing that he was testing me, trying to push and see where my boundaries were.

"We are moving more stock. We'll pay same price but give us a five percent greater cut."It wasn't all that difficult to move what we were doing now, but I don't think he knew the extent of it. He cocked a brow, as if he was a little shocked that I had come back with such a lower percentage. Shawn was not pleased beside me but I was keeping the peace and keeping business ties strong. 

"Aye, I think that could be arranged." He stuck his hand out this time and I quickly moved to shake it. "Pleasure doing business with you." This wasn't the last time that I was going to have run-ins with Galen O'Shay. I knew that and was actually looking forward to it.


	14. Cats and Dogs (Leora Creed)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Balancing two violent individuals, one mate and one brother, can be difficult. Especially when they are so opposite.

A growl came from my throat before I could contain it. I was sick of the two of them going at it. It was a constant pissing contest between my mate and my brother. 

“Alright enough!” Both looked at me, looking a bit shocked. Rolling my eyes, I moved forward. “Enough is enough. I get that you two don’t like each other, I get the whole alpha thing going on. But for Christ sakes, it is doing nothing to help out situation.” Fenrir sent a growl in my direction but I quick snapped back. 

“This infighting is only helping them out. Frankly, if you two want, you can duke it out after all is said and done. I won’t be able to keep you from it and at this point I am not sure that I care enough to try and stop it.” Victor was frowning at this point and Fenrir was inching closer to me. For as much of a terror as he was to the rest of the world, he was almost paranoid about protecting his own. I could not fault him on that, though I hadn’t been quite his own for some time now. “Now, play nice until all of this is over….please.” 

“Fine. If the kitten can…” A growl can from Victor and I let out an exasperated sigh. Giving my brother a stern look, I moved over to Victor. I carefully grabbed his hand in my own. 

“Claws retracted.” He shifted his focus from Fenrir to me. My grip on his hands was light, allowing me to gently rub my thumb over the surface of his skin. It would get him to focus on me and not the werewolf behind me. He pulled one of his hands from mine, bringing it up to my chin. It allowed him to hold my head where he pleased as he pulled me in for a kiss. I could hear Fenrir growling again behind me but it was the least of my concerns for the moment. Victor pulled up, a small smirk playing across his lips. He knew that it would rile my brother up but as it had helped to calm him down, I let it slid. 

“Now, can we please get moving? We have lingered here a lot longer than I feel comfortable with. Especially considering who is after us.” I could see the shift in Victor’s eyes as he came back to the fact that not only he was at danger but I was as well. I turned around to look towards Fenrir, hoping to get something out of him. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a small huff. 

“Come on. There is a place to the north where we could go.” I gave him a thankful smile, wrapping a hand around Victors arm. He eyed Fenrir but ultimately he moved along with me. I knew that they were going to be at each other’s throats and I was going to have to put that off as long as possible to keep all three of our hides safe. 

When he led us to a car, I raised an eyebrow. That had been something new. Fen caught it and sent me a smirk. 

“When did my brother give in and get muggle transportation?” He shook his head while Victor held open the door for me. I slid into the back seat while Victor sucked it up and slipped into the front with Fen. Rolling my eyes with a lack of energy to deal with them at the moment, I found that I could stretch out and relax. I was still tense and waiting for those chasing us to appear though, knowing that we were in danger and not wanting to let my guard down. Unfortunately though, Victor picked up on it and started a slow, low purr. I let out a small growl, not wanting to relax or go to sleep but he just ignored it, continuing to try to relax me. 

***************************************

I hadn’t realized I had fallen asleep until I was roused by arms lifting me from the seat I was laying on. Immediately, I could smell Victor as I nuzzled my head into his coat. He cradled me carefully against his body. The purr started again, keeping me relaxed and drowsy in his arms. I tried to perk up but he was having none of it. 

“We are safe for the night. Relax and sleep. You need it, the cub needs it.” I knew that I couldn’t argue with him on that point. He was right. I did need rest for the baby. I grumbled softly into his coat before giving in and closing my eyes once more. I heard him chuckle. 

My back met the bed and Victor pulled away. I frowned, missing the heat and the comfort. Not a second later, I was covered by his jacket and a hand running through my hair momentarily. 

“I will be back in a few minutes. I am going to talk to your brother about a few things.” I reached up and grabbed his hand, opening my eyes finally. 

“I know you two don’t get along but please, for my sake no more fighting. At least not tonight. We are going to need his help, whether you want to admit it or not. For as much of a hard headed idiot that he can be, he is my brother.” I could see the exasperation in his eyes but he gave me a nod. 

“I will do my best.” 

“Thank you.” I let his hand go, closing my eyes again. His footsteps moved away from me. I pulled his jacket around me tighter, allowing the worn in scent to sooth me. There was no yelling that I could hear and that helped to put my mind at ease, at least a tiny bit. I did not want to have to worry about the two of them trying to rip out each other’s throats all the time. 

***************************************

I was drifting in and out of sleep when the bed dipped and a warm body rested next tome. 

“Victor?” I received a grunt in response. “How’d it go?” He pulled me against him and managed to drape a blanket over the both of us. I was still tightly wrapped up in his jacket. 

“Fine. We are going to lay low here a few days before moving on.” I snaked a hand out from under his jacket and curled it up in the tank that he was wearing. His arm tightened ever so slightly around my waist in response. “Go back to sleep.” I didn’t feel much like arguing against him. Now that I had given my body some sleep, it was demanding more. I wormed my way closer to his body, coming out from under the jacket. He rested his head atop of my own, making sure that I was fully nestled into his arms. I let myself be lulled back to sleep. 

*************************************

I was up before Victor the next morning, which as unusual. I knew that everything had been wearing him down, more so than he would ever admit. I slowly dug my way out from under his arms, feeling the urge to use the bathroom become urgent. He grumbled, shifting in his sleep but not quite rousing from it yet. I smiled softly in his direction before moving off to the bathroom. 

Victor frowned, knowing that Leora wasn’t in bed next to him anymore. That immediately had his eyes snapping open. Scanning the room, he didn’t spot her so he followed it up with a quick sniff of the room. Her scent lingered heavily in the bed and she had only moved recently. That was when he heard the shower start to run. He allowed himself to relax into the bed now that he knew that she was safe. Running a hand over his face, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He needed to do a perimeter sweep today, for his own peace of mind. He didn’t fully trust that wolf that was her brother. He was protective of her, there was no denying that but the wolf would not be able to protect her like he could. It was part of his responsibility as her mate after all. 

Sighing, he lifted himself out of the bed. He could probably use a shower as well and briefly gave thought of joining her. A smile crossed his lips at the thought but it vanished as he sensed someone outside their door, followed by a knock. Letting his claws extend, he crept towards the door, ready for a fight. Once he was at the door, the scent that reached his nose was that of the dog. He closed his eyes, jaws tense as he reigned himself in. He didn’t want to cause any more issues than what were already present. He yanked open the door, doing his best to not lunge at the man standing across from him. 

Fenrir was doing his very best to not tear out the man’s throat. He didn’t like him one bit and was unsure what his sister saw in the man. He was restraining himself through for her sake. He highly doubted that she would create a story about mates as she knew how sacred and important that they were, especially to the werewolves. His wolf was raging against him as the man was a cat but he settled himself the best that he could, trying to quell his wolf by promising a hunt later. 

“How is she doing?” 

“She is fine, in the bathroom.” Fenrir nodded, trying to see if he could see Leora in the room beyond the bulking figure. He didn’t spot her so he had to accept that she was actually in the shower. He would have felt better to have actually seen her. 

“I’m going on a hunt. Should be back in about an hour with breakfast.” The man just grunted and Fenrir turned on his heel, knowing that if he didn’t, there would be a fight between the two. 

Victor closed the door and let out a huff, reigning in his anger. There was no use in letting it consume him with no outlet for it. 

I came out of the bathroom to see Victor braced against the door, breathing deeply. I quickly recognized that he was doing his best to control himself. I ran a few fingers through my hair, pulling out the knots and allowing him a few more seconds. 

“Victor?” He turned around, eyes landing on me. I saw some tension release from his shoulders. I moved over to him, watching him and trying to gauge how to deal with him, as he watched me walk over to him. 

Reaching him, I brought a hand up and gently brushed it against his cheek. His eyes closed for a moment before opening again. One of his arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me to his body. Resting my hands against his chest, I watched his face carefully, trying to determine what his next move was going to be. 

“How are you feeling?” One of his hands began to stroke my lower back, eyes trained on me. I could smell that my brother had been at the door. 

“Well rested surprisingly, the both of us.” A small smile flicked across his lips. 

“Good. Now, I need you to stay here while I do a perimeter check. The wolf is out getting some meat for all of us to eat.” I just managed to refrain a roll of my eyes. Victor was just being Victor, protective and a bit over dominate, though with the situation that we were in I knew that those parts of his personality were going to be more prominent and I would have to let them slide. As much as the idea of staying in the cabin made me groan internally with boredom already, there would be no arguing with Victor at this point in time. I pushed him fairly hard last night and was surprised that we had not ended up in an all-out brawl over it. 

“Stay in the cabin and wait for one of you to appear before doing anything. I got it.” His grip tightened on me slightly, in response to both my response and the tone of my voice. I flattened my hand against his chest and gave him a small smile. “I promise I won’t leave.” His eyes felt heavy on me as he was carefully contemplating his next move. Eventually though, he did relinquish his hold on me to move outside. Now, I needed to find something to entertain myself.


	15. Hell Hound Savior (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little out of control without her brothers around. JD gets a little help from an unexpected source.

Dropping our bags in the small hotel room, I collapsed down onto the bed while Sam and Dean laughed. Flipping them both off, I lay there with my eyes close, not wanting to think about the fact that we were here working which meant that I wouldn’t be staying in bed for any length of time. 

“Seriously JD all we did was drive for a couple of hours. If that is tiring you out, when you weren’t even the one driving, then maybe we need to reevaluate you as a hunter.” Dean was trying his hardest not to laugh with every word. 

“You try sitting in the back of that car for several hours. You guys are all nice and stretched out up front. I am the one cramped in the back, listening to your poor choice of music and the bickering back and forth about food.” Dean looked mockingly offended when I claimed he had a poor choice in music. I didn’t mind the classic rock. It was what we were raised on after all. It was just that something different might be nice from time to time. Heaven forbid that ever happen though. 

“Oh come on. Not only do you insult my music, you insult Baby too? That is just not cool.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Next thing you will tell me is that you don’t like pie.” 

“More of a cake girl myself.” 

“I just don’t know you. I am not even sure we are related.” Sam was laughing so hard at this point that he was doubled over with tears running down his face. It wasn’t often that Dean and I went toe to toe like this, playfully of course, but when we did it was a sight to see. 

“Nope, clearly not. All those years in motel rooms that we have memories of are clearly misplaced. I was never the girl in yours and I had two different brothers in mine. It’s a shame then really that I have been tagging around with you losers for so long then. I have brothers out there who could be cool.” Dean smiled and just shook his head as I finally let out a small laugh, unable to keep the straight face anymore. Trust him to be able to ease my tension with just a quick back and forth. 

“Damn, I think we broke Sam.” Sam had flopped down onto his bed, wiping away the tears that had fallen from his laughing fit. He remained quiet, just giving a shake of his head as he took in a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. I turned and curled up on my side as I watched Sam stare at the ceiling. This was more of what it should have been like between us but these moments seemed to be getting fewer and far between. I hated it. 

“Nothing to contribute to the conversation Sam? Something about how we love books too much to not be related?” The smile remained as he turned his head to look at me. 

“That is true.” Dean just threw his hands up in the air and made a disgusted noise. 

“I’m going to take a shower. Leave you two nerds to talk about books then.” He moved towards the bathroom. “Once I’m done, we’ll head out and grab a bite to eat before figuring out how we are going to talk to this Melissa girl.” I gave him the thumbs up to show that I had heard him, Sam mimicking my action. Another noise was made before the eldest of the Winchester trio disappeared. 

“You thinking werewolf?” 

“Yeah. Think it makes sense given what we know so far. But we could be wrong. Has happened before.” I nodded and rubbed my hand over my face to try and shake some of the tiredness from my mind.

“Well, if that is the case, maybe we could hold out enough luck that we’ll nail it with silver and be out before the end of three days. Be nice to get an easy case every now and then.” He snorted. 

“Our last name is Winchester the last time I checked. Pretty sure that means that nothing in our lives is easy.” 

“Touche.” There wasn’t much I could do to argue that fact. Nothing had come easy since we were all very young. There were always roadblocks, obstacles for us to overcome even when it felt like the world was falling down around us. We all persevered through it though, coming out the other side. That was also what being a Winchester seemed to mean. Staying strong even through the toughest of times and becoming stronger for it. 

***************************************

Two days in town and we hadn’t found a hint of who the wolf could be. It definitely seemed to be a werewolf given the missing hearts of the victims. Pinpointing the culprit was what proved to be difficult. We talked to our one lead but it gave us nothing, which wasn’t actually the usual standard for our cases. Something always stemmed off the first lead but this was puttering to a slow stop while these people were still in danger. 

Due to that, the boys were at the bar, getting a few drinks. Sam was even indulging for the time being. Maybe because werewolves were a bit of a sensitive subject for him, given the woman that he had an attachment to that he had to kill. I had opted for one before deciding to return to the motel to see if I could fish something up. We were grasping at straws and drowning myself in liquor was going to do nothing to help matters. A very different thought process from Dean but maybe it would prove useful. I wasn’t keen on having that nasty hangover headache tomorrow either. 

Walking to the motel that was just a few buildings down, I made sure that my knife was accessible at my side and that my gun was within a quick grabbing distance. Dean had said that he had loaded my gun with silver bullets so I was confident that if anything was going to happen, I would be able to handle my own. I should have known that feeling confident was never a smart thing when it came to our luck. Bad things always happened when we thought that we had a situation in our control. 

I heard the snarl before I saw the creature, as was often the case. Spinning on my heel, I pulled the gun from the waistband of my pants and raised it to carefully aim. There was nothing that I could see but the hairs on the back of my neck told me another story. It was still here, I could practically feel it with me. It just wasn’t showing itself.

“Alright. Come on out here wolfie. No use in hiding. I know you want my heart but youare going to have to work for it seeing as I am rather attached.” The sounds came from my left though they were quick and I found myself knocked to the ground. Damn it. I fired off a shot and hit my mark though it didn’t slow her down. I was a bit flabbergasted at that. Werewolves were not immune to silver, it just didn’t happen. One of those rules that never had an exception. Except at the very moment, I was staying at a very pissed off wolf that had a bullet lodged in her shoulder that was doing nothing but turning to pounce on me again. So I squeezed off another two shots, still hitting her body and it seemed to temporarily slow her down but did not have the desired effect that I wanted. I reached for my knife, knowing that this was going to get messy. 

Her claws dug into my arm and I let out a yelp, the pain making it impossible to keep silent. Another shot and still she wasn’t going down. I nearly groaned as I thought about the possibility that Dean hadn’t gotten around to putting the bullets in my gun like he had said. Perfect, just what I needed at the moment. I was going to box him around the ears when I was done with this. Another slash, this one at my back as she hopped and moved quicker than I could almost keep up with had me staggering. 

“Damn it.” That was when a different sort of growl reached my ears. It was familiar and had a shiver running down my spine. My eyes darted around the area and nothing came to view but the sounds were close enough that the creature should be visible. It caught the attention of the werewolf and took her gaze off of me. Gritting my teeth, I fired off my last round, aiming for her head. It may not have killed her but it would incapacitate for the time being. The growling continued, coming closer and closer before wounds began to appear on her legs. It was a hell hound. There was no chance that the woman had made a deal with a demon to become a werewolf. Right? It seemed like a crappy sort of deal. I didn’t second question things at the moment, moving quickly back to the motel, back to the Impala so I could grab the necessary supplies. Lifting the trunk, I didn’t brother propping it, grabbing for the first thing silver that I saw. Knife. Perfect. The invisible dog was keeping her on her back, pinned down thankfully. Wounds littered her body but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t fighting back with all that she had. 

The pain in my back was distracting, flaring and burning, my brain unfortunately forced to focus partly on that rather than fully on the scene that was before me. Still, I didn’t let it stop from kneeling down and plunging the knife downward into her heart. It took several seconds for the wild in her eyes to recede but it did and she let out a gasp before dying. I felt bad but knew that there was no other option when it came to these creatures. Most of these people didn’t ask for it, the bite was almost always unwanted but that didn’t stop it from happening. I sat down on the ground, wearily knowing that I couldn’t outrun the hell hound if it decided to turn its attentions to me. 

“Juliet isn’t in the mood for such a lovely chew toy.” Crowley. I could have laughed if I wasn’t trying to not breath too deeply right at the moment. “Seemed to be in a bit of trouble there love. Where are your brothers?” 

“One too many into their night.” I carefully jerked a hand towards the bar. It didn’t seem like the fight had disturbed anything in the evening, occurring in my own little bubble of reality. I peeled off my over shirt and worked on tearing it into pieces to wrap my arm. My back wasn’t something that I was going to be able to handle on my own. “Thank you.” I wasn’t foolish enough to insult him for his help. I had been in trouble. 

“She was supposed to be here a bit sooner than that.” He knelt down beside me and checked over my back. “They aren’t too deep but you are going to need them cleaned and patched up. I take it that is the filth that you are staying in this time?” He motioned towards the motel. 

“Yeah.” He offered a hand, causing me to glance up at him. He was watching me carefully but seemed genuine enough at the moment. My brothers hadn’t exactly left things off on the best of terms when he had last been around and I hadn’t seen him since. Not that I thought he would harm me, which was probably a foolish thought. He was a demon after all. 

“Well, let’s get you laying down.” He helped me up to my feet, an arm sliding around my waist to help support me. “Juliet can finish her dinner in peace.”


	16. Dealings with the Devil (Cassidy Duggins)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems a certain King decides to involve himself in Cassidy's life more. Is it for business purposes or something more?

Things had settled down relatively quickly after the meeting with the King and his representatives that had been stateside. As I had promised, the new avenues had panned out and we were moving more stock than we thought we could have handled. Shawn was still a bit disgruntled about the whole thing, not used to having me around to undermine him. As much as I hated to have to do it, it had to be done. It was turning out to be good for us in the end but at the moment, he didn’t want to acknowledge it. He would come around, even if it took him some time to. I had received another two calls from O’Shay himself, checking in on things personally. I thought it odd but decided not to question it. If that was how he ran business who was I to question? Like an obedient soldier, I followed orders and jumped when the commander said to. I may have been the head of operations at home but I knew when I needed to back down and give my respect. Which didn’t always please some of my family. They had grown a little too comfortable with their positions. I was apparently one of the only ones who could see how important it was to maintain a good relationship between us and them. So it be, I was running things so they would go how I wanted them to anyway. It all worked out in the end, even if some people were less than pleased with me. They would get over it eventually. Especially when I kept the cash flowing in and their asses out of jail. 

I pulled my bag higher over my shoulder, walking out of my last class for the day. I was almost finished up with my thesis but that didn’t mean that I was able to slack in any of the classes. And my brothers thought that they had a lot to juggle. I nearly chuckled at the thought but refrained for the time being. Glancing towards one of the guys that had been trying to get my attention for ages, I rolled my eyes and continued moving on despite how he called out my name a couple of times. Some younger guy, freshmen or sophomore. Much too cocky for his own good and someone that I had no time for. Not to mention, he wouldn’t have been able to handle my family. That was when my phone rang. Not the phone that I kept for school and supposed friends but my business phone. Groaning softly, I tried to move a little faster to evade the persistent jackass that insisted on following me. 

“Hello.” 

“I would prefer not to have to call you to discuss problems with your people.” I ignored the way that my heart started to beat a little faster, not just from the adrenaline rush of having to worry about dealing with another internal problem but maybe just a little bit from the voice that came through the phone. 

“Lovely to hear from you too.” It was signal that I wasn’t quite able to speak freely at the moment. “Which book needs to be checked out this time?” 

“A little closer to home than usual. Looks like one of your brothers has been talking to the wrong people.” I nearly came to a complete stop, ice washing through my veins at the thought. No, none of them would turn their back on family, they didn’t have it in them. He took my silence as a sign that I didn’t know. “I’ll save you some work. Seems Danny boy can’t keep his mouth shut. Especially after he got a few drinks into him.” I gripped the phone a bit tighter, mind working hard to wrap around the fact that I was being told one of my brothers was a rat. 

“Hey Cassidy…you okay?” There was a pause on the other end of the phone. 

“Am I interrupting something?” 

“No, not at all. Just finishing up classes for the day.” At least that wasn’t a lie. I flipped off the guy and started to pick up my pace once again. I needed to get off campus, get to a place where I could think this all through. 

“Think we should meet up to talk about this problem and how you are going to sort it out. Don’t want you making the wrong call.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.” My voice took a bit of a harder edge. If Danny had been spouting off at the mouth, well I would handle it, get my hands dirty this time around. I wouldn’t put that on anyone else. They were going to have a hard enough time handling the truth if it was indeed the truth. This was going to break my poor mother. 

“How about that coffee shop that is around the corner from your campus. Seems cozy enough.” 

“I’ll be there in fifteen.” He was already there, he wouldn’t be suggesting it if he wasn’t. 

“See you soon lovie.” As I slid into my car, I slammed my hands against the wheel and cursed violently. I needed to get all of my anger, disgust, and sadness out now before I saw Galen. He would likely have proof would just make things harder. I had to shut it off and go in like it was a normal business issue. 

He was already sipping a coffee when I arrived, motioning for me to take a seat. This didn’t seem like a usual spot for him to conduct business but I had no idea how he actually worked so I had no grounds to really question it. There was a smirk on his face as I sat, seemingly taking in my more relaxed wear. I wasn’t about to sit through a few hours of class in business attire. I ignored the way that his eyes felt on me before getting straight to it. 

“Who and what?” 

“Gonna need to be a bit more specific for me.” 

“Who has he talked to and what has he said? You wouldn’t be calling me up with this if you didn’t have proof that there was a problem.” I was proud that my voice came out even and devoid of any sentiment. I relaxed back in my chair and tried to appear as calm as possible about this all. I could see that he appreciate the fact. Most would be calling him a liar surely, unable to handle the thought that someone that close had turned their back. He slid a file across the table and I opened it up to look at the pictures. My eyes closed as I took in the faces and the inevitable feeling that was settling over me. This was bad, very, very bad. Without saying another word to him, I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed up Danny. 

“Hey Danny. Listen, I need you to meet me down at the warehouse on the docks. Nah, nothing bad just need an extra set of hands to move a few things before they come for inspection. Shawn is too upset at me to answer his phone right now. Perfect, I’ll see you in thirty.” Galen nodded his approval as I closed the phone and slid it back into my pocket. The noise of the busy café around us faded into the background, it becoming a white noise hum in my ears. I was goingto have to kill one of my brothers. That was a hard pill to swallow. 

“I think I’ll accompany you, make sure all loose ends are tied up. This is the second time that you haven’t had control over your people. That isn’t exactly something that we can allow now is it?” I shook my head, focusing down on the table for a moment, jaw clenched tight as I steeled myself again against an onslaught of emotions that threatened to pull me under. 

“Let’s get moving then.” He was all smiles as he stood up and followed me to my car. 

I closed my eyes and took a steadying breath, allowing the emotion and overwhelmed sensation of the moment wash away. I couldn’t let it ruin everything, couldn’t let it make the man that was leaning against the crates so casually think of me any different. Part of me wanted to make an example of my brother for anyone else who thought that this shit was a game but at the same time, I wouldn’t be able to handle having to kill him in front of everyone. I would break down. It was going to be difficult as it was right then to not lose it entirely. The sound of the door opening and slamming shut echoed through the building. Familiar steps made their way towards us. Danny always was the heaviest walker of my brothers. There was no way that he had been able to sneak around much. He would wake the whole damn house trying to be quiet. 

I gave him a somewhat genuine smile, knowing that this was the last time I would lay eyes on him, these were the last words that we would ever speak. 

“Thanks for coming by Danny.” He reached me and gave me a hug. I held on for a few seconds longer than I had intended to, memorizing the way that his arms felt around me and the familiar leather smell that came from him. He was always fond of the jackets. Funny how much a brain worked in overtime to point out little details that had never seemed to matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. 

“Like I could leave you hanging.” His lips brushed against my forehead as he pulled back and I had to swallow the lump that was forming in my throat. I jerked my head towards a crate. 

“Wanna help me get that loaded?” 

“Ain’t the muscle of the group for nothing.” He gave me a playful wink before moving towards the crate. As his back was turned, I slid the knife from my jacket sleeve. A gun was a little too quick for the betrayal but I wasn’t going to make him suffer too much either. As long as I was focused and hit where I needed to, I could give him a small explanation and he would fade quickly. 

“You know, I was thinking of bringing Angela to family dinner on Sunday. What do you think of that Cassy?” With a hard thrust, I had the blade buried in his back, deep enough to severe his spine. My jaw clenched at the gasp that he let out and when he tried to turn around, I quickly wrapped an arm around him to keep him in place. 

“Don’t think she would have made a good addition to the family Danny. Bit too nosey for our liking. I’m sorry but did you think you would be able to get away talking to the cops?” My voice cracked just a bit as I spoke. His response was a whimper. “I hate you for this, for making me do this. We were family Danny; that was supposed to mean something.” I lowered my voice so only he and I knew what I was saying. I struggled for just a moment with his eight before beginning to lower him to the ground as slowly as possible. I finally withdrew the knife, allowing him to roll over so he could look up at me. Staring down at him, I refrained my tears quite well as a quiet acceptance washed over his face. That white noise came back, even if there wasn’t noise around to cause it. I shook my head and with my clean hand pushed some hair from my face. 

“Honestly didn’t think you would end up going through with it. I had to admit, I am a bit impressed.” I glanced over towards the sauntering IRA king. He looked down at Danny with a cocked head. “Think I would have tried to inflict a bit more harm before he passed but that is just me.” 

“It’s done. Is there anything else to be done today? If not, I need to get someone here to handle this and get home to finish up my school work.” And have a couple of damn drinks, explain things to the rest of the boys. 

“I think we are done for today lass. Go get cleaned up. And make sure this shit doesn’t happen again.” It wouldn’t if I had any say and hold of my family and the men working for us.


	17. Sibling Arguments and Payback (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JD decides to get some payback in Dean and freak him out as much as she possibly can.

Things had started off like an average hunt. Dead body, small town, quiet inhabitants. It all added up to what was hopefully going to be a relatively average salt and burn. Dean and I had crashed at the motel, Sam being left behind at Bobby’s after our last hunt where he had gotten beat up pretty bad. One too many stitched up wounds kept him sidelined for this. If I wasn’t around and we hadn’t had Bobby to help us talk some sense into him, I think he would have beenout here with Dean. It was how both of my brothers worked. Hell, it was how being a Winchester worked. We had to be physically incapacitated for us to stay off our feet and not help family. That wasn’t exactly here nor there though. 

I tossed a small ball I had found up in the air repeatedly as I lay on the bed, listening to Dean prattle on about some girl that he had met. It was like he had some twisted sixth sense for finding women that were more than okay with a quick roll in the hay. Not that he always managed to get that far but sometimes he did and those were the times that I found myself more than glad for the company of Sam. This night however, his luck hadn’t held out and he was more than grouchy over the fact. 

“You shoulda seen her JD. I mean her legs went on forever.” I rolled my eyes and propped myself up on my elbows a bit, wondering how I could annoy him in such a similar fashion. My mind whirled around with possibilities but each didn’t seem likely to hit the mark that I was looking for. I wanted him a bit disgusted so that he would shut up and I wouldn’t have to hear his mouth running about women for some time to come. 

“Dean, come on man. I know that most everyone sees me as one of the guys but I am straight. Meaning, I am attracted to men. I couldn’t care less how the girl looked. She isn’t going to be coming back to this room, you aren’t getting lucky. So calm your hormone-addled teenage self down alright bro?” He gapped at me for a moment before slowly shaking his head. 

“Come on, even you could admit to liking to look at a gorgeous woman from time to time. It’s just how our brain works.” I grunted and fell back to the bed, finding my argument useless as he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that I had no interest. “Seriously though, she was a looker. I am sure even you would get into bed with her. Blonde hair, these bright green eyes. She was just drop dead gorgeous.” I tried to put the pillow over my face to drown out the noise of what he was saying. At this point, surely he knew that he was annoying me and had decided to continue just to torture me a bit further. I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. Flipping him off, the only reaction I got was a laugh before he continued to launch right into some story of another girl that this blonde had reminded him of from another town, on a hunt that I hadn’t accompanied them on. 

“Dean, I swear to all that is holy, if you keep this up I am going to done on about some man for the next three hours until I make your ears bleed. Try me bitch.” That seemed to shut him up for a bit. The peace returned to the cramped room and I let out a relieved sigh. I knew that it wouldn’t last too long but at least for now I found my reprieve. 

After a rough day of chasing down some cult worshipers, all I wanted to do was grab a shower and collapse into bed. Did I get to do that though? No. Why? Because when I opened the door to our motel room, I found Dean rolling in the sheets with that same damn blonde that he had spent hours talking about. There were some things that just weren’t mean to be seen and your brother in bed with some woman was one of them. I held my hand over my eyes and let out a mockingly pained groan. 

“Shit, I won’t be able to see ever again.” I turned around and closed the door with a loud slam. I had hoped that he wouldn’t try a stunt like that when it was just me and him but apparently I had a little too much faith in my older brother. Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I decided that the best course of action was to return the favor. In a manner of sorts. It wasn’t like I jumped into bed with any random guy like my brothers did with women from time to time. I knew what would scar him and I knew that this particular person would agree to it full. If only to mess with Dean. After all, what good was having a demon as a friend if you couldn’t occasionally ask for a “let’s scar my brother for life to teach him a lesson” favor? 

As I had anticipated, Crowley had been fully on board with the idea, after spending acouple of moments laughing and mocking my mental trauma. My pout of course just increased his laughter until finally it managed to bring a laugh from me. It was worse for me to catch him like that than it was for Sam. I was his sister after all! So, what was a better plan than giving him some of his own medicine, or at least making it look like I was? Plus, just as an added bonus, I would make sure that Baby was involved so it would stick in his head for some time. There were some bonus points for creativity there. If I hadn’t recruited Crowley for the job, I was sure that Bobby and Sam would be proud of me.  
“Are you sure you are playing on the right side of things love? Sure, the idea is fantastic but to tie it into his beloved car? That is just evil.” We were relaxing in the back of the Impala, I had moved the seats up to give us a bit more leg room. Chuckling softly, I passed him back his bottle of Craig, having taken a small glass for myself. 

“You try living with him for twenty six years, see where that put you.” He shook his head.

“I think I will just continue to survive on the overbearing amount of time I have to spend with him now.” 

“Exactly. It’s a wonder that I have any sort of grip on sanity at all.” Of course I was being overdramatic but he seemed to almost serious consider it for a moment. Which cause me to reach out and give him a whack on his arm. “Don’t be a jackass.” 

“Part of the job description love.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved it off, not needing a reminder that I was sitting in the back of the Impala with the King of Hell, about to pretend to be making out. “He shouldn’t be much longer. The man’s stomach runs like clockwork. And he always wants a burger.” I nearly rolled my eyes. How he managed to remain as healthy and fit as he was, was beyond me. If Sam or I ate like that? We would have been dying from legitimate heart attacks a long time ago. Not to mention, I wouldn’t be able to keep pace with the amount of weight that I would put on. 

“It is rather amazing that his body tolerates such abuse.” 

“You don’t know the half of it.” He theatrically shuddered, causing me to laugh again. This was admittedly pretty nice, just relaxing and joking around. It wasn’t something that I got to do too often any more. The company was just as appreciated, I had come to realize. 

“Again, I would prefer to keep my mind untainted.” I rolled my eyes and reached down to set the empty glass on the floor so it would break and hurt one of us during our act. 

He shifted closer to me as the seconds ticked away, managing to pull himself out of his suit blazer before unbuttoning a couple of his shirt buttons. I raised an eyebrow at him with a bit of a smirk. 

“You want it to be believable right?” Shaking my head, I allowed him to continue. Right before I knew Dean was going to exit the motel room, we shifted and maneuvered until my back was pressed against the seat and his body was hovering mine. It was a bit of an awkward position but we wouldn’t be in it for long. I wasn’t able to see much from my position but he could so he glanced upward and a smirk came to his face. I knew that meant that Dean was approaching. “Show time.” He leaned down a bit more and buried his head into the crook of my neck while I rested one hand above me on the door and the other wound around his shoulders. I was having a hard time keeping myself composed and not laughing, knowing that Dean was going to flip out entirely. I felt Crowley speaking against my skin almost more than I heard the soft words. 

“Control it love.” Well, that didn’t make me feel any more comfortable. In fact, suddenly I was acute aware of the way that his body was pressed up against mine and could feel a bit of heat rising to my cheeks. That wasn’t supposed to happen. The handle on the door was pulled and I let out a fake moan, not missing the way that Crowley swallowed hard at the sound. 

“What the hell!?” We both turned out heads in the direction of the yell, looking shocked and a bit embarrassed to be caught. Dean stared at us and for a moment I thought he was actually going to try to kill Crowley. “JULIANNA DIANE WINCHESTER!” There was certainly a first time for everything and I don’t think I had ever heard my brother address me by full name. 

“Dean.” I pulled myself from under the man, ignoring the blush on my cheeks. “Just calm down and let me explain!” I shifted in front of Crowley just in case Dean decided he wanted to try anything. I wasn’t about to let him get hurt because of my stupid idea. He just shook his head and stepped away. I could hear the muffled laughter that the demon behind me was struggling to keep contained. I slipped from the car and followed him. 

“Dean.” 

“Nope, nu-uh. I want a one way ticket from nope town to fuck that ville. I ain’t dealing with this shit right now.” I stopped dead in my tracks, blinking for a moment as I tried to work through what it was he had just said. He slammed the motel door shut, forgetting all about his food. I turned around, allowing the grin to come to my face as I walked back to the Impala. My partner in crime was in full hysterics as I slid back into the seat and laughed right alongside him. 

“I didn’t know his face could get that red.” 

“I thought he was going to kill us both for a moment. He has never said my full name.” As we calmed down and wiped away the tears from our eyes, there was a moment of comfortable silence that enveloped us and the car. I would have to figure out a way to thank him properly for going along with this. 

“Jules…” I turned to look at him as he spoke my name before I found his lips crashing down onto mine.


	18. Demon Introductions (Julie Lestrade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley tends to have the worst sense of timing.

To say that I had been unhappy with the fact that Sherlock had involved himself was an understatement. To say that I was furious about the fact that he had managed to drag my brother into it was a massive understatement. I had fumed about it the entire car ride back to my car. A few choice words were said, mainly aloud since I was not dealing with the fact that everything I had worked so hard up until now to maintain and prevent was being thrown out the window because someone couldn’t keep to themselves. 

After a day or two, I had cooled down somewhat and was sitting in the same damn place I had been for the past two days. I had not left my brothers flat, but to keep an eye on him here and there. Sherlock had passed by twice but I had fully ignored him, refusing to let him in. I knew that I would need to talk to him about everything that happened and what actually went on out in the world but I wasn’t in good enough space to be able to handle that. Thankfully, no pesky demons had stopped in to cause the trouble to be worse and right now, supernatural activity seemed to be at an all-time low. It wouldn’t last but I was thankful that luck was on my side for once and that I wasn’t worrying about saving people when I was figuring out how to save my brother. 

Greg came home later than usual but I was up, jotting notes down in my journal while referring to a new book. A couple things were already ready but I still had to handle the hex bags in his flat, the anti-possession charm that I had to get him to wear, and a couple demon traps. It may have made me seen paranoid to them but they really didn’t understand the scope of what they had stepped into. I barely looked up from my book, muttering a hello before I heard a second person following behind Greg. That got my attention quick, head snapping up only to see Sherlock. He was observing me carefully, a thoughtful expression on his face. Rolling my eyes, knowing that for the time being there was nothing that I need worry about, I went right back to work on figuring out how I could make sure that Greg wasn’t tracked. The texts were complicated and were calling for a few things that I knew I couldn’t get my hands on, let alone actually preform them. I was going to need to enlist some help and that was a whole other subject that I really didn’t need to be broaching at the moment. One incessantly, overbearingly annoying man at a time. 

“What are you working on?” I ignored the comment, knowing that he was going to come and look over my shoulder anyway. If he could read latin more power to him. Scribbling down another couple of notes, I let out a slow breath and closed my eyes. He was too close for my liking and it was grating on my already shortened and frayed nerves when it came to the man. Scrubbing a hand over my face and leaning back in the chair, I thought that perhaps it was time for me to transition onto the easier things to get down. The traps for instance. Yes, the traps were a good idea. Grabbing some chalk from my bag, I moved over towards the windows to begin. There were several areas in the house that I was planning on drawing traps. 

I could feel the curious eyes on me as I worked, making sure that my symbols were right and that no one was going to break through them. 

“What are you doing now?” 

“Devil’s traps. Keeps demons contained until they can be exorcised.” Greg’s brow furrowed and I couldn’t tell if Sherlock looked disturbed by the subject or delighted. 

“Demons?” 

“What? You’ve seen vampires with your own eyes and you are going to tell me that you don’t think demons actually exist?” I barely looked at them over my shoulder before moving on to the door. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad an idea to actually summon one for them to see. Shaking the thought off, I focused on the mumbling that the men behind me were doing. Part oftheir minds were still trying to deny what was before their eyes. A normal reaction for most people really. Yet, they were listening to me and thinking me crazy less and less. Greg shouldn’t have been difficult to convince, he had been faced with something like this before. He just chose to ignore it and think that these things didn’t exist. 

“Next you are going to tell me that there is an actually heaven and hell.” I remained silent, allowing them to gather what they would about that. There was after all, though I hadn’t seen either. “You can’t be serious.” 

“As the day is long. Have friends who have been there.” 

“You have friends?” 

“Shut it Greg.” There was no stopping the smile that came to my face at the familiar jab that came from my brother. It seemed that some things would never change. 

A knock on the door pulled us all out of our musings. Cocking my brow, I signaled for the two to stay back just in case something were to happen. Almost everything was in place as much as they could be. Cracking the door open, I found a familiar black coat staring at me. 

I had never been so happy to see a dead body on the doorstep. Well not quite dead but soon to be if I had my say. He would be the perfect example, even if I was going to end up having to put up with whatever crude comments he sent in my direction. Hiding the smirk that wanted to crawl across my face, I had to pretend that I didn’t want him here. And hope that he wasn’t reading my mind. 

“What are you doing here?” I staged whispered to him, trying to make it seem like I didn’t want the others to know about him. 

“Why wouldn’t I come find you love? Been a bit since we had a nice chat. I hear something about a brother of yours?” A true flare of anger rose up at the comment. 

“You have my attention.” 

“Aren’t you going to be kind and let me in or am I going to have to force my way in?” I let out a small noise of frustration, pretending to be wholly upset about the prospect before finally sliding open the door and stepping aside. Two steps in and he was stuck. 

“I expected you to be a bit more prepared Crowley.” Greg and Sherlock watched on quietly. “You really thought I wouldn’t have this place protected? Maybe you have been spending a bit too much time with the Winchesters. Dean might be rubbing off on you.” 

“It’s the mat isn’t it?” 

“It’s the mat.” He rolled his eyes and held his hands out to the side. 

“Alright, what is you want this time?” I knew I fully had the attention of the men behindus. So, I had to play this carefully if I didn’t want it backfiring. Crowley was tolerant but only to a certain degree. He was still a demon, still the King of Hell, and a dangerous being. I closed the door and bring him a chair, carefully setting it within the confines of the mat so that he was able to sit down. 

“Might want to make yourself comfortable. We could be here awhile.” 

“I have places to be, souls to torture, and demons to command. How long is this going to take?” 

“You worried the wonder duo is going to call you and you won’t be able to answer?” 

“For once, I am serious about being busy Julie.” 

“King of Hell has business meetings again? Things not so smooth going in paradise?” 

“For your information, Lucifer reared his ugly head again so no.” 

“Of course he couldn’t stay away. Alright then, we’ll make this quick.” I jerked my thumb to the two behind me. “These two decided to involve themselves. One of the right is my brother. One on the left is brother’s friend and key detective. Lefty is a bit skeptical of this all. You wanna give him a little proof that you are a demon?” His head cocked to the side a bit as he studied me, trying to follow this train of thought and where it was going to get him. He remained quiet, a sure sign that he wasn’t all that willing to cooperate at the moment. Fine, that was something that I could handle. 

“Right then. Down to business it is. I let you out of the trap, leave you in your current meat suit, and don’t shove a demon blade up your ass. Your end of the bargain? You keep demons off of their asses, they are protected. I know it won’t maintain safety from everything but I would rather like to worry less about your minions than I do all the other things that go bump in the night.” I knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep all the demons off our back. Plenty liked to go rouge and plenty liked to think that he shouldn’t be the one sitting on the throne. But if this took down the majority of them, then it was worth it. 

“My soul isn’t involved in this deal. Am I understood?” He rolled his eyes before settling on smirking once more. That told me all I needed to know about what was coming next. 

“There was no need to strike a deal to be able to kiss me again love.” He was going to the death of me, in one form or another. My knuckles turned white as I reflexively gripped my blade a bit tighter. 

“You are lucky that I need you around, otherwise I would say fuck the deal and just end it all right here.” 

“Time is wasting Julie and I do need to get back. So, are we going to seal the deal?” I groaned before stepping forward and sealing my lips over his. Allowing all of four seconds, I immediately pulled back and leaned down to cut a line in the mat, breaking the trap. “As always, pleasure to do business with you darling. But I must be getting back to hell before I find that troublesome fallen angel back on my throne.” I wouldn’t stop him if that was the case. The monster we knew was better than the unknown force. Crowley could be reasoned with and he looked out for his own self-interest which at times, benefited some hunters. Mainly the Winchesters but it was still a benefit. Motioning with my hand that he was free to go, I took my eyes off of him, not wanting to deal with anything else that might have been seen in his eyes as he looked at me. He was impossible. 

I heard a disgruntled sound from behind me when Crowley snapped his fingers and disappeared. Well, more like two disgruntled noises. 

“So demons are real….” 

“What did he mean again?” I was not at all shocked to find that my brother was more concerned with my interactions with Crowley while Sherlock was soaking in the new information and processing it quicker than what I would be able to keep up with.


	19. Late Night Meetings (Kathleen O'Rourke)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Understandings don't always have to be spoken. Sometimes they can occur over mac and cheese in the early hours of the morning.

The fight had not exactly gone as planned. Not that they ever really did. It wasn't like we could choose what was destroyed, who was hurt, and what the outcome was. It wouldn't be much of a fight if that was the case, we would always have the upper hand. Though that wouldn't be a good thing either. That sort of power was dangerous. But that was all beside the point. As a team, we limped back to the tower to nurse our wounds and deal with the fallout from the latest trouble. No matter what we did, there was some scrutiny. The lives saved didn't seem to matter as much as the destruction and those that were lost did. People couldn't really be blamed for that. Why should one of their loved ones not get saved while someone elses did? It was the emotional rational of someone grieving. We had all dealt with it enough in the few years that the team had been around.

I was sporting a gash across my forehead and a burnt arm, Tony was battered and bruised as he often was after getting knocked around in his suit, Clint was burnt on one of his legs, Natasha looked like she had a busted nose and arm. Bruce and Steve? They seemed in fairly good condition. A few minor cuts and bruises but for the most part whole. Though thoroughly exhausted if their slacked faces and light snoring were anything to go by on the flight to the tower. Cradling my arm carefully to my chest, my own head was tipped back as I tried to redirect the attention that was on the pain in my arm to anything else, like the press release we could make and keeping what little energy I had left under wraps. I was running on near zero and didn't want to leech anything the plane or Tony. So, press release was certainly a good attention holder.

Once we hit the tower, those of us that needed to head to the medical bay did so while the others went off in their own direction to get some rest and recover. I wanted everyone else to be looked at first, not wanting to risk zapping too much energy from any of the machines that might need to be used. Tony had done his best to protect them after learning that I didn't have full control of my powers but that didn't stop my abilities no matter how hard he tried. They were all work than me anyway. Clint's burn was deeper and more painful, as were the broken bones that Natasha was suffering.

I tossed a tiny spark between my fingers on my good hand to keep myself entertained and awake. Even if I had wanted to pass out on the flight back, I wouldn't here as my brain had enough time to settle into what had happened. It was never easy to do what needed to be done in any of our fights, bad guys who wanted to do harm or not. It was one of those aspects that I was never going to get used to. Even when I was with Strange, most of those men or other beings received their form of punishment by being banished. Rarely did he ever take a life and that was how I had learned to handle situations. Especially given what I could do. Here though, there wasn't a lot that could be done about it. It was almost a necessity. None of that made it easier on the mind though.

I got a little sleep as my arm was healed slowly. It wasn't a lot but it was something seeing as I knew that I would be up most of the night. Doc talked me to quietly, making sure that my head wasn't too far gone, that I had control of myself. Steve stopped by too, to check in and make sure that my arm wasn't too bad. I gave him a reassuring smile when he stood beside me.

"Doc will have me back to normal in a little bit. I am fine. Go get some sleep Cap. You need it." He smiled softly before nodding and heading off like I had requested he do. At least he didn't fight me on it or push when he knew I wasn't actually okay. I appreciated that level of respect. Though I shouldn't have expected anything less coming from Steve Rogers. Keeping myself awake, I waited for my arm to finish healing before I was able to be dismissed to head towards my room. It wasn't exactly where I wanted to be but it would allow me some time to quietly meditate. That would help with the difficulty I was having dealing with the results of the latest fight we had taken part of.

Meditating helped quite a bit but I still wasn't able to get any sleep. Not that it was surprising. My energy was slow to build up and rather than have the expected effect of needing to sleep, the lack of electricity kept me wide awake, as if my body was afraid to fall asleep and never wake up due to the lack of it. So until my batteries recharged to an acceptable amount, I would be up.

With that train of thought sticking in my head, I made my way towards the kitchen on the floor. It would provide a distraction as well as a good snack. I was actually hungry now that things had settled down enough. Gathering the bowls and the ingredients that I needed, I tossed them onto the counter and stared at them for several seconds. I questioned my life choices in those seconds before going with my initial choice.

The pasta cooked slowly and I was just mixing in the cheese when I heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Not looking up, I decided to ignore the fact that someone else had come to the kitchen at the hour that it was. Which was...I squinted at the clock to see exactly what time it was. Nearly three thirty in the morning. There were a few more seconds of silence, allowing me to mix the milk and cheese into a creamy mixture over my pasta.

The refrigerator opened and closed, the sound filling the quiet kitchen around whoever it was that was with me and myself. I lifted the spoon and took a bite of the mac and cheese. Perfect.

"What are you doing up at, what time is it? Uh...three thirty in the morning making mac and cheese?" Ah, so it was Tony that was with me. Judging by the beer in his hand, he couldn't sleep either. I gave him a look that should have said it all but he just smiled and waited patiently for me to answer the question. The man was more annoying at the early hour of the morning than he was any other time of the day.

"Look, I don't ask for much in life but just this once, could you not question my madness for like ten minutes?" I did not want to talk to him about the mess that was happening in my head. There was an inkling that urged me to, telling me that he would understand but I just wasn't ready yet. I hadn't even talked to Stephen about it. Which meant that Tony Stark was not the first person that I was going to spill my guts to. These guys seemed to barely pass a second glance at the life that was taken right before their eyes. I know it affected some more than the others but they all handled it much better than I could have anticipated. It was just another aspect of the job but to me it was so much more. It was not something that I could settle into easily, that I could not let it not affect me. I wasn't sure if that was something that they would understand. Stephen I knew would but I hadn't been able to figure out how to broach the subject with him. He would know what to say and how to calm me down and see through to the other side. Tony? I had my doubts that he would be able to say much beyond it is part of the job.

"Alright fine. But then I do need an answer to this question." He paused and I waited for him to continue onward, looking up as he seemed to be waiting for me to do. "Did you make enough to share?" Trust this man to ask about food when moments before the tension could have been cut with a knife and there was a potential emotionally crippling discussion that was ready to be had. I rolled my eyes but found myself nodding nonetheless. If he wanted some, I could spare enough. It would probably keep him around a bit too which could be a good or a bad thing. I hadn't figured that one out yet.

"Yeah, there is enough for you to have a small bowl. I guess." He jumped up with a smile on his face and moved to grab himself a bowl, placing it right alongside the one I had gotten out for myself. "You're lucky you know. I don't normally share my midnight food with anyone."

"Well, I feel honored. More than anything I have received before." He moved back to the fridge and pulled out another beer, apparently for me as he set it aside unopened. "And maybe I will have to duck out of my lab a bit more often if you are up cooking at three every morning." That got a small laugh out of me and I could see the smile on his face grow. He was such a child sometimes. Honestly, it was refreshing more often than not even if the others found it annoying.

"Yeah, like anything can draw you out of that lab of yours."

"You wound me with your words of doubt." He mockingly held his hand over his chest and pretended to be in pain. "See what your cruel words do to me?" He was trying to get a rise out of me. He always seemed to, though now it was in a much different way than it had been when I had first arrived at the tower. It was amazing what a little time together could do to ease tensions and worries. I looked over at him and pointed towards the bowl that was set on the counter, still steaming just a bit.

"Alright drama queen. Knock it off and eat some of the mac and cheese before it gets cold. Otherwise it will be wasted when I could have eaten it and then you will have me real upset." He chuckled and grabbed his bowl before heading towards the lounge area without another word. I wasn't sure if I was expected to follow him or not. He could have very well decided that he wanted to have his snack alone even though he had acted like he wanted to hang around. I had a hard time reading the man.

"You coming?" Shaking my head, I tossed the dirty pot into the sink before grabbing both the beer and the bowl and moving off in the same direction. Maybe having some company wouldn't be as bad as I had thought it would have been.


	20. Ignorance (Julie Lestrade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie explains to Sherlock why it is better than the world doesn't know about the things that go bump in the night.

It had been a few weeks since Sherlock and my brother had stepped into my business. Crowley had kept his end of the deal up as far as my knowledge went and that eased my mind just a bit. It was one less worry to have to contend with. And there were plenty of them when it came to Sherlock. I didn’t know how my brother kept the man on any sort of leash. He was utterly and completely impossible to deal with. Now that he knew of the world that he had long thought of as nonsense, he was delving into information and throwing himself headlong into situations where knowledge didn’t outweigh experience. Sure he was smart, scarily smart but smarts doesn’t always do you a lot of good when it was a Wendingo or Djinns. It was experience that helped with those sort of thing. They were quick and tricky, prayed on humans for survival. Djinns in particular were driven less on instinct and more on their intelligence. They were not a creature that one wanted to find themselves against alone too often. So, instead of my time being spent handling my own cases and making sure my brother was the one that remained out of trouble, I had to keep yanking Sherlock back like a misbehaved dog. 

One or two times he did surprise me and managed to get himself out of some sticky situations. And I did grant him that humans were more often than not far worse to deal with. Plus the fact that he would have been ten times over if he wasn’t able to retain and call upon the knowledge the way that he was. But still, my focus had to be on the misadventures that he got himself into more often than not. It kept the relationship between the two of us strained. Though, I supposed that didn’t come as a surprise. I was a hunter after all. Relationships, whether it was supposed to be platonic or romantic, never went all that well. It seemed that he had just as hard of a time though it was more because of his person than anything else. Greg would always roll his eyes if we got into it, shouting at each other and causing a general scene wherever we were. 

The one benefit of all of this? John seemed to keep a level head. Oh yes, he was in on it too. How could he not have been when Sherlock was traipsing off everywhere in search of his next discovery? John was a loyal as the day was long and it didn’t take all that proof for him to be acknowledging what had to smack the other two men in the face. He was always fairly calm and collected, helping to keep Sherlock’s head on his shoulders. Both figuratively and literally at times. He kept those sort of things out of his stories as well, another thing that I was thankful of. Though he was likely doing it to make sure no one thought them crazier than they were. They certainly garnered more attention from people than I could have assumed. If it wasn’t for him, Imight have offed Sherlock myself before some other creature managed to do it. 

***************************************

We were stuck in 221B, having a familiar argument. John was quietly sipping his tea, eyes moving back and forth between the two of us. 

“Sherlock, you do not understand what you are asking for!” 

“I know full well what it is that I am requiring of others.” 

“You barely think them capable of understanding their lives as they are now. How the hell can you expect them to accept all of this? Of being capable of understanding and accepting all of this. You aren’t talking about someone understanding a case the way that you do, seeing the world the way that you do. You are asking people to completely understand and accept their lives being flipped on their head.” 

“Living in ignorance has helped no one!” We always had this argument after a person had passed. I hated when it happened but had become a bit more accustomed to it in my line of work. It was a minimal number when it came to my history compared to some other hunters. Maybe that had to deal with the considered limited number of years that I had been a hunter or maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was pretty damn efficient at what I did. Either way, it wasn’t something that he was used to dealing with and he had a hard time accepting the fact that sometimes, people died, that we failed to capture the thing that was wreaking havoc before it harmed someone else. He hated the fact that he was bested more than he was with his human opponents. It was a whole new realm. 

After every incident, he insisted that we revealed to the public what actually went bump in the night. He felt that even those with a low IQ would be better off armed with the knowledge of what was out there, that there were things that they could do to help protect themselves. I don’t think he fully comprehended what that meant, what he was asking of people. I had seen what the knowledge did to people, to families. I stared at the result in the mirror every day. As did just about every other hunter there was out there. We were all products of a harsh reality check, personally or through a loved one. And our lives were never the same. I would never wish that on anyone. I had had about enough of the argument when I pointed a finger towards his jacket. 

“Get on your damn jacket and follow me.” I moved off towards the door, intent on proving my point. 

“You can’t get out of this argument…” 

“Do as you are told for once and follow me.” He shut his mouth and studied me for a moment before agreeing. Clearly I had enough of his curiosity caught seeing as I had all but cut an argument off at the knees without storming off and muttering about him being pigheaded and stubborn. As per the usual end of our arguments. John sat in his chair, unmoving though there seemed to be a hint of a smirk on his face. He often sided with me when it came to this subject and I wonder if he knew what I was about to do. 

It took us about ten minutes to walk to the park. There were plenty of children running around with gleeful looks on their faces as laughter echoed out through the park. Men and women alike were jogging, bike riding, walking and talking, enjoying each other’s company without a care in the world. It was a typical scene for the park but the exact thing that I needed for my argument. We came to a stop on the sidewalk alongside the entrance of the park. He sent me a mildly irritated glare as he didn’t yet understand what my point in dragging him here was. 

“What are we doing here?” 

“Take a moment to observe. Don’t read anything, don’t deduce anything. Just take in the emotions of what is happening around you.” It was a difficult task to ask of the man but I knew what I was doing. Surprisingly, he listened to me and was silent for several long moments before he sighed and I knew that he would need an explanation. I gave it a few more seconds. 

“Are you going to explain what your point in this is?” He wasn’t fond of children that much I knew but they were the key part of this whole thing. 

“This,” I sighed, sweeping my arm through the air. “This is what ignorance does.” I let that thought sink for a moment as he put together the pieces in his head. Maybe it was a bit slower than what I had expected but he was rather poor when it came to proper human interactions and emotions. I ran a hand through my hair before sighing again. 

“Children are playing, their innocence and positive outlook on life intact. Men and women walk without a care, not worried if something is about to jump out of the bush at them. There is a concern about whether the person they are talking to is the actual person they think it is. Yes there are fears of the dark and while we know it is rational, that is something that they can outgrow. They live in ignorance but in this case it is very much a bliss. There are no worries orconcerns about things with razor sharp teeth or beings that they can’t protect their children from. The weight of those terrible things that happen that are out of their control is not on their shoulders. They are able to live their lives, experience joy and happiness without a constant pressing concern about when their loved one will be so violently ripped from them. They don’tlose sleep at night wondering if the creak in their house is going to kill them and their family. They can sleep comfortable at night when their child is tucked tightly into their bed. Every worry, every ounce of paranoia, every second of an accelerated heartrate isn’t experienced by them. They do not have to live in fear. That, that is what ignorance does for these people. It allows them to live Sherlock. It allows them to not shut down, to allow loved ones near. Hell, it allows them to have loved ones.” He was quiet during my entire speech, taking in what I was saying and looking around. I hoped that my words were sinking in and he was beginning to understand what sort of trauma he could do by trying to get people to understand what the world around them was really like. 

“Their worries are normal, human worries. How could you possible begin to take that away from them? Just to warn them of something that they might never experience? Explain the unexplainable and people panic, people turn against each other and those beings that wished to harm them. Things around here get real ugly real quick. There are creatures out there that are not harming a single person. What of them? They are hunted down and killed under a sickening mob. Knowledge is a powerful thing but it is not always positive Sherlock.” Still, no response from him as he contemplated the mouthful that I had given to him. 

“So you forfeit all of those things yourself to keep them protected?” I nearly winced but nodded my head despite not wanting to acknowledge that fact. 

“If I can keep one of them from understanding the true horrors of what is out there, then it is worth it. Children deserve to be children and just because I can’t have something like a couple out there doesn’t mean that no one should be able to. It is a sacrifice that I am willing to make. The world was thrust upon me and instead of hiding, I took up the fight. For them. It’s worth it.” He made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded almost like he was agreeing with me. I hoped for my own mental wellbeing that he was. I couldn’t take many more of these sort of fights. Hopefully my message was sent loud and clear and this could be avoided in the future. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.


	21. Familiar Faces, Worn Out Places (JD Winchester)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley deals with loss until a haunting face pops up.

All three companions, two men and one demon were still reeling from the death of the woman even weeks after the fact. The hole in their lives was more than evident. It was like moving through cement, trying to push on every day and ignore the way that everything changed. Dean and Sam had lost each other before but this hit on a different level. She was the one that they were supposed to protect at all costs, no matter what. She wasn’t supposed to experience that aspect of their lives, she wasn’t supposed to suffer that fate. They were supposed to sacrifice themselves for her before anything else. And they had failed that job. Crowley, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to handle it. The women meant something to him but he wasn’t sure what that was. He had yet to really figure it out. She was more than just a plaything, more than just amusement. He had made sure that Dean and Sam were not allowed to sell their souls for her life back. It had been made abundantly clear to every demon under his command that by no means were they allowed to do business with either of the Winchester boys. JD would skin them all alive. That was a sacrifice that she was not willing to allow her brothers to make and it was something that the demon king found himself honoring. Besides, she wasn’t down in Hell. He knew that for a fact after spending a week searching to ensure that if she was, he could properly take care of her. So that just left one option and he wasn’t going to ruin that or allow the boys to ruin that. She deserved at least that much for them after all that she had done. If it was the only good thing that he did with his life, both as a human and as a demon, then so be it. 

Crowley decided after checking in on Moose and Squirrel to ensure that they were about as mentally intact as they could get to take a walk. He didn’t feel any desire to go right back to his kingdom. He kept to the docks in the new town, the silent lapping of the water against the wood oddly soothing. It was nothing more than a mild distraction, an attempt to continue to further the woman from his mind. He didn’t want to think about Jules anymore, didn’t want to find himself distracted by the thought of popping into her apartment to find her reading some book that had nothing to do with her job as a hunter, or the way that she would reel him in to prank her brothers when she was particularly upset with something idiotic that they had done, or the way that she didn’t view him as the scum on the bottom of her boot. There was no point in wanting to think about the fact that she was the only one that seemed to make the world make more sense when things had gotten too out of hand with the shift in the dynamics of him and the brothers. She was the only one worth his time, a thought that would twist him quicker than anything else in the world. No, it wouldn’t do him any good to dwell on those things or allow them to continually pop up at the most inopportune times. He was the king of Hell, he didn’t have emotions, and he wouldn’t be hung up over the death of a Winchester. He couldn’t and wouldn’t allow it to happen. 

The sound of laughter drew his ear. Soft and melodic, it echoed out across the deck and over the water, filling the area around him. It was oddly familiar and caused his brow to furrow as he listened to it ring out clear through the space. It almost felt like it was echoing though there was not a chance it was with the setup of the docks. He knew he should have just ignored it, continued on and worked on clearing his mind of the woman. But something was pulling him and refused to allow him to move on like he wanted. So Crowley found himself moving towards the sound, looking for the person responsible for it. He didn’t have much else to occupy himself right now. He could use what would hopefully be a bigger distraction than just the walk. Maybe this was a woman that he had dealt with in the past. Or it was someone that he had been looking for, a soul that needed collecting. It wasn’t his job anymore but getting his hands dirty would serve to put him back into that space that he needed to be in to head back to Hell. 

He came upon a small boat, fishing boat more than likely from the looks of it. A woman stood on deck with another man, talking with giant smiles. They had apparently just brought in a delivery from the sight of the fish being loaded off of the boat. A few other men walked away with the offload, leaving the two alone on the deck of the boat. That familiar tug continued and he positioned himself in a way that he could see who the woman was. What stopped him in his tracks was the face, so incredibly familiar that he thought for a moment he wasn’t actually awake. He hadn’t slept in years but in that moment, he had to be dreaming. Then again, odder things had happened. He could have been sent to an alternate dimension. The fates could be playing some cruel trick on him, a sort of punishment for the life that he had led. None of it would be worth having to see Jules and not being able to talk to her, have her near, hold her, anything that he had gotten to do previously. 

JD was standing in front of him without a care in the world. Anger was the first thing that he experienced. It overwhelmed everything else in his system. There was no joy, no thrill in seeing her. How could she be here after all that her brothers went through? They were barely surviving as it was, hanging onto an existence that was nothing as it should be. All the spark had been lost from the brothers. But forget them. What about him? This woman who had managed to squirm her way into his life, into his mind. Sure he was just initially using her to get close to the brothers, to use them as well. But somewhere along the way, she had come to mean something tovhim and as much as he loathed to admit it, he sort of needed her around just as much as the brothers did. His fingers curled into fists at his side, hands shaking with the force just slightly. It was dangerous to approach her in his current mood but that once more didn’t stop his feet from carrying him over. 

“Jules!” The man looked confused and she didn’t respond. Was she really going to ignore him? A nudge from the man had her turning around. She seemed thoroughly confused, no spark of recognition appearing on her face. There was no sign of guilt, no sign of fear, no nothing but absolute confusion. 

“I’m sorry sir. Can we help you?” 

“Cut the act Jules. We need to talk.” 

“I think you might have me confused for someone else.” She shifted on her feet, seemingly growing uncomfortable. She didn’t move to reach for any blade though which didn’t go unnoticed by him. None of her reactions were normal for her. She glanced back at the man behind her for a moment. “My name is Caroline. I don’t know who it is you are looking for but I can assure you that I am not her. And for that matter, I have no idea who you are.” Crowley knew he wasn’t wrong, he knew for a fact that this was Jules, he just didn’t know how to prove it, how to get her to break character. He stepped closer and noticed that the man that had been beside her tensed, reaching for the closest thing that was on hand for a weapon. 

The demon gritted his teeth as he watched the man and debated pinning him to the wall of the boat so that he wouldn’t cause any problems. Carefully studying the woman, he tried to find some sort of recognition, anything that would tell him that it was actually Jules that he was looking at. Maybe he had lost it. Maybe this wasn’t actually the woman that he thought it was. That was when he caught sight of the tiny little scar off to the side of her right eyebrow. There was no way that this wasn’t the Winchester that he had been missing. 

“You really have no clue who I am?” 

“You’d think the confused looks and blank stare would have answered that for you.” Oh yeah, with that sarcasm there was no doubt that it was JD standing in front of him. How she was hiding the fact that she knew who he was shocked him. She had been a decent actress before but this was beyond her abilities. That was when he delved into her thoughts. He had always tried to avoid the act as much as he could for her sake, holding enough respect for her that he did not allow himself to invade her privacy in such a manner. 

What he found told him that she wasn’t lying. She had no idea who he was and was beginning to get scared. In fact, there was not a single trace of any of her previous knowledge of Hell and demons, of her brothers and the life of a hunter, of all the experiences that had shaped her into the woman that caught his attention. He pulled back from her mind and stared blankly ather for a few moments that anger immediately dissipating. There were forces at play here that he didn’t understand. At least not yet. He fully intended to. If she was back on Earth, he wasn’t about to let her go. Not after doing it once. Not to mention, if he could find her that means others could as well. Which put her in a lot of danger. She wasn’t able to pull forward any of her knowledge or her hunter abilities. The thought churned his stomach. 

“I’m sorry. You just…you look exactly like someone I thought was lost.” Her shoulders dropped just a little bit and the man behind her relaxed somewhat when he stopped advancing and gave into the fact that supposedly she wasn’t who he was looking for. He would figure this out, more for selfish reasons but then again, he was a demon after all. It was nothing out of the ordinary. He lost her once and he wasn’t going to let that happen again. “Sorry again.” He backed away and waited until he was out of eyesight to call upon Juliet. The hellhound would be trusted with the task of keeping Jules safe until he figured everything out. She readily agreed. Jules would be safe with his girl watching over her, no matter what came after her. Any poor supernatural being would be sorry for coming onto her. That was the reassurance that Crowley needed to be able to walk away from her and head right to the bunker to talk to the boys.


	22. Thoughts (Kathleen O'Rourke)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kathleen reminds Tony that thinking is dangerous. He proves her wrong.

It was a quiet day at the tower, something that was rare and far between for all of us. It seemed that everyone was together and no one had any urgent business to handle. Even Stephen hadn’t contacted me for quite some time for any sort of help with anything that was being a threat from another dimension. I wasn’t about to look a gifted horse in the mouth and turn down the opportunity to relax. So, I kept to my rooms for the time being and decided to meditate. I had purposely been making more time in my day, each and every day, to carry out the calming and centering activity. It helped tremendously in keeping my powers under wraps. Even Tony respected the time enough that he allowed me to have it in peace. There were no knocks on the door or shouts for my help, or scientists coming to me to ask for any sort of aid with their experiments. 

Aiding in the lab had been something that I had been doing on a more regular basis, once Tony figured out how to keep calm around me and not push too hard. Thankfully. It was something that I was surprised to learn that he could do. Restraint and Stark never went together in the same sentence. But that was another situation that I wouldn’t question. I was going to run with it as long as I could. It made me feel more useful around the tower, a little bit less of an outsider among these heroes. My powers came in use when they needed a little extra push or when Tony wanted to test out a suit and a reactor. Since I could overload or drain energy, he was figuring out how to protect his reactor that way. Needless to say that we had blown through several reactors by now. A lot of them ended up drained rather than blown up. Tony had managed to figure out how to handle the overload burden more efficiently than having it drained. 

My mind cleared as I focused on my breathing, sitting cross legged on my bed. The room was quiet, the tower was quiet, and everything felt more peaceful than the atmosphere that normally overtook the tower. 

I was able to fall into a drift less, thoughtless state of being for what may have amounted to two hours before I was interrupted. A knock on my door resounded throughout the small room. 

“Hey, Sparks?” My brow furrowed. That wasn’t usual for Bruce to call me by the nickname, no matter how many times that I told him it was okay. It didn’t bother me as much now, especially now that I was feeling like part of the team. Pushing up off of the bed, I opened the door and peeked around to see Bruce looking a little more unsure than usual. 

“Hey Bruce. What’s up?” 

“Well, we could use your help in the lab for a bit if you wouldn’t mind.” He wasn’t looking at me, which was another unusual sign. 

“Yeah sure. What’s up, Tony get stuck in a suit again or something?” 

“Not exactly.” I laughed softly. 

“Alright. Clearly it is going to be a need to see to be believed with the way that you are acting. So lead away Bruce.” I motioned for him to go first so I could follow behind. Whatever the carnage was, I didn’t want to be hit first. That was an acceptable response right? 

Getting to the lab, I was surprised to find it in relative peace and without any sort of destruction occurring. I glanced towards the quiet man beside me already to see him walking away. 

“Bruce…” 

“Hey Sparks! Just in time. Come on in.” Narrowing my eyes, I moved into the lab, now more than suspicious about what was going on. 

“What did you need Tony? Bruce said that my help was required.” The grin that was resting on his lips was troublesome. Tony looked all too pleased with himself, which was always a troublesome thing. It didn’t take living here to figure that one out. Cautiously, I stepped into the lab, trying to be overly aware of my surroundings, least I end up covered in paint or shot by Barton or anything of the sort. Nothing was put passed these men. 

“Well, I had a thought…” 

“Oh no….” Tony’s thoughts when he began a sentence like that were never good. That combined with the smile and who know? The last time this happened, he wanted to use me to see if we could light up every Christmas tree in New York City. It ended with me wrapped up in sparkling and blinking Christmas lights, walking around the city and singing carols. The history of Stark and I with his ideas was not a good once. 

“I swear it’s a good one this time!” 

“That’s what you said last time Tony.” 

“Yeah but last time had been about getting laughs. And messing with you because you broke my favorite tool.” I rolled my eyes when he brought the situation back up. 

“I had told you that it was an accident and that I was very sorry.” 

“That’s all besides the point Sparks. Let’s focus here. Back to my fantastically genius idea.” I groaned softly and moved to sit down. This might take awhile. If anything to previously happen was to be gone by. Pacing back and forth, it was almost impressive to watch the gears in his head spin. The man’s mind worked like no other and while I wouldn’t give him the ego boost that he certainly didn’t need, I always liked to watch him work through a problem or talk outwhatever idea was taking over his head. Even if it involved some sort of humiliation. Not that I liked the idea just watching the process. 

Crossing my arms over my chest, I waited for him to reveal whatever this big idea was. For all the hype, he was not being very forth coming with it. 

“Alright, so we are back to your genius idea but you aren’t telling me what this genius idea is or how I need to help with it.” I cocked a brow and threw the comment out, waiting for him to really kickstart into it. 

“Well, I think it is going to be easier to show you than just explaining it.” Now, he was really throwing me for a loop. 

“No way is that happening Stark. I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you. I may not be that smart, but I am definitely up to your games.” 

“Oh stop being dramatic Kathleen. It isn’t any sort of trick.” He moved over to me and pulled me into a seated position. Once that was accomplished, his arm was thrown over my shoulders. “Come on, let me prove it to you.” I was in for something, what it was remained unknown. 

My confusion was deepened when we were riding the elevator up to the main floor and Tony threw a blindfold over my eyes. 

“Did I just say that I didn’t trust you?” 

“Yeah, well you are going to have to Sparks. So just keep calm.” 

“Easier said then done you ass.” 

“No need for the name calling. I am hurt you think so little of me.” I could picture the way that he was holding a hand over his chest as he often did to act wounded. Before I could get another word in, the elevator was stopping. Jarvis was being abnormally quiet, normally he chimed in on the sort of back and forth that Tony and I were having. Tony shifted behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “We aren’t going too far so just relax alright?” I grumbled but consented seeing as I really had no other option unless I wanted to fight with the man behind me. 

Things were quiet but I could almost feel the buzz of energy in the air. There were other bodies around us but I couldn’t tell how many. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Tony pulled off the blindfold and I was greeted with the sight of cake and the rest of the team wearing goofy smiles. 

“Surprise!” I was shocked and for a moment didn’t think that all of this was for me. The smiles and the looks of everyone else around the room told me otherwise. 

“What’s all of this?” Not that I wasn’t grateful but I was confused about what it was about. 

“Well, it’s been almost a year since you joined the team and did you really think that you would be able to hide your birthday from us? Get away without us doing something?” I shrugged as I glanced towards Tony, away from all the smiling faces of the rest of the team. 

“Yeah, I sorta did honestly. So, let me guess then. This was your fantastic, genius idea?”

“I’ll take most of the credit sure. They did set it up and get the cake but it was my idea in the first place.” 

“Look at that. Never thought I would see the day where I would say that Tony Stark actually had a good idea.” Everyone laughed. 

“You shouldn’t be mean to the person throwing you a party. There is still plenty of time to figure out how to embarrass you Sparks.” 

“I don’t doubt that.” I took the drink that was being offered to me by Steve, a thankful look on my face. “Thank you guys. I really didn’t expect anything like this.” I was truly touched that they had gone through the effort of putting this together for me. Even when I had been with Stephen, I had treated my birthday as nothing more than another day. Usually Stephen would honor that, even if he fought me a bit and got me a small card. 

Glancing around the room as people slid into their own conversations, I found myself smiling. 

“So, good idea?” I glanced over to see Tony standing at my side once more, a drink in his hand. I nodded slowly as I took a sip of my own. 

“Yeah. Thank you Tony.” We both relaxed back a bit, observing the area around us. “I honestly didn’t expect any of this.” 

“You’re part of the team, this is what we do Sparks. There has to be some good times involved among all the crap right? And PR conferences and all that doesn’t count.” I laughed softly and found that I had to agree with him. 

“Yeah, yeah. You are right there. Still, I haven’t given a lot of emphasis on my birthday in a long time. The fact that I have been here a year is much higher ranking on the list.” It meant more to be was what I meant but it didn’t come out quite right if I was being honest. I hoped Tony understood what I meant by it. I could see him nod out of the corner of my eye. It was nice to find that sort of unspoken understanding that was coming more and more often between the two of us. I hoped that continued. With all the laughter and relaxation that was permeating the tower right now, I found myself more relaxed, physically and mentally than I had been in a long time. I finally felt truly at home in the tower.


	23. Tolerance (Julie Lestrade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie has to remember not all her problems had can solved with physical action.

All things considered, I figured that I had a pretty damn good tolerance for annoying people. I mean, I put up with a lot of things throughout the day, from humans and non alike. Not that it was easy but I had grown a pretty damn good skin and mental barriers. That wasn’t to say that no one was able to break through. And I was finding that happening a bit more having to deal with Crowley and the Holmes brothers. Mycroft and Sherlock were incessant. I had a whole new found respect for my brother and what he put up with day in and day out trying to do his job and wrangle the youngest. Both together though? That was a whole other level of management that I wasn’t sure anyone on the face of the planet was capable of. Add in an annoying as all hell demon and things that wanted to eat you and well, I thought I was doing pretty damn well. 

I had just managed to banish Crowley from the small flat that I had gotten when in stormed both Holmes brother and Greg. I cocked a brow as they all looked a bit flustered. Mycroft and Sherlock were bickering back and forth and Greg looked a little exasperated. Frowning, I closed the door behind them and moved to grab a hold of Greg to figure out what it was that had suddenly burst into my living space. The two were in their own little world and didn’t notice us having our own private sibling chat. 

“Would you like to explain to me why it looks like I have world war three happening in my living room right now?” 

“I’ve lost track of where their argument has gone. It started out on some case that Sherlock wanted to bring to your attention but Mycroft had to step in and try to deny it.” Great, that was just great. It likely meant that it was something that was known about but certain people wanted it kept quiet. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I let out a small sigh and worked on processing what it could be before I even had information. 

“And do you happen to have details about the case that he wanted to present?” 

“Oh yeah, yeah.” He rummaged around in his coat for a moment before pulling forward his phone and shoving it under my nose. Pictures of the crime scene, lab work, and documentation were top class. I gave him an appreciative look before looking over it all carefully. Bodies missing, others having dropped dead. It was odd but not out of the realm of possibility. I understood the need on Mycrofts part to cover it up to avoid absolute mass hysteria by the public. Something like this could be played off as viral or infectious but that caused a public uproar and people became more paranoid. It was difficult to deal with. At the same time, it wasn’t like this was something that he could sweep under the rug. Mycroft might have still been a skeptic but this reeked like something supernatural. As I read more, my guess was on demons. There had been a bit of a stir lately and from the grumpiness that came in the form of Crowley, it was clear that he was having an issue in Hell. So we had unwelcomed mass possessions, not that they were ever actually welcomed, dead bodies for whatever reason and demons on the loose doing whatever it was that they wanted. It was a recipe for disaster. 

“This is a mess.” 

“I know.” The brothers were still arguing, though it was over something that was far from the case by the sounds of it. I was fairly certain I heard something about a dog being mentioned. 

“Do they always bring up fights they had as children?” 

“More often than you would think possible.”

“Thank whatever being that is deciding to watch over us today that we don’t fight like that.” Though, running away and not talking for the better part of fifteen years ranked pretty damn high up the list. He snorted a bit which finally seemed to catch the attention of the other two. “Ah, nice of you to notice my presence in my flat gentlemen.” Sherlock rolled his eyes while Mycroft had the decorum to look mildly ashamed. His manners were a bit more polished given his position in the government than Sherlocks but I was not fooled into thinking that any of it was actually genuine. 

“You’ve looked over the evidence.” Mycroft let out a mildly disgruntled sound at the comment from Sherlock. “Tell me what you think we are dealing with.” 

“Something that I need to be looking further into, that much is obvious. I understand your concern for public safety and to keep the masses calm Mycroft but this smells exactly like something that you can’t really sweep under the rug. Come up with whatever excuse you want to use this time but you aren’t keeping me off of this.” Sherlock looked mildly pleased with himself that he has supposedly won the argument when I agreed that it was something that needed to be looked into. 

“Thirteen bodies just laying dead on the floor when they had been conducting business moments before is not something that you need to be looking into. This is a matter for myself and my business associates.” It was my turn to snort when he spoke. 

“I get you think that you know everything because you are the government Mycroft. But, there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I heard Sherlock laugh as I quoted Hamlet back at the man. I could see him bristling, not appreciating the tone and how I was handling the matter with him. I was not at all dissuaded from the matter at hand though. If Mycroft wanted to go tit for tat, I certainly would do my best to handle it. Greg was watched one again the back and forth, though this time, a small smirk was settled onto his face. Maybe because he knew that I was going to do everything in my power to win, that this was something that needed to be handled by myself and that Mycroft needed to be put in his place. Surely the man belittled and ridiculed my brother in between his argument with Sherlock. That was the way that he operated. Well, how his mind worked. Sometimes I pitied the Holmes brothers and being stuck with a mind that didn’t allow them rest, didn‘t allow them to see the world the way that almost every other person on the planet saw it. I understood how that felt most days. 

“I don’t think you get a say in this.” He was going to try and pull rank. There wasn’t a lot that we could do about that if he decided that was what he was actually going to do. Unfortunately, I had no authority and my brother was just a DI for the Yard. I rolled my eyes and stepped forward a bit so we weren’t shouting in the smaller space. 

“So then will I get a say when another thirteen bodies drop? And then another thirteen go missing? What will the government be able to say then that won’t incite a panic? Twenty six randomly dropping dead while thirteen bodies so missing without a trace. I would say even I would have a hard time covering that one up and I have almost as many years of experience as you do with way less restrictions.” I ran a hand through my hair and let out a small sigh. “What you have on your hands is something that you nor the government is used to handling. At least on a regular basis. As much as you loathed to admit it, I am the expert here and what we have are things that can’t easily be taken care of. You give me some time and I will have the problem solved. It’s a simple as that. Or I can wait until you come back with your tail tucked between your legs because your pride and your unwillingness to accept the facts before you got in the way of allowing you to ask me for help.” Sherlock and Greg had backed off a bit now. 

“That is simply something that cannot be done. My colleagues and I are perfectly capable of handling this situation with our resources. Your so called expertise is not needed nor wanted. I do not know how you managed to drag my brother into this mess but you will not get me to believe a single word out of your mouth.” I shook my head and stepped back into the kitchen for some water and to try to give myself some time to cool down. It would be no good getting into a heated argument with the man because he would win. I had to control my emotions. Mainly the anger that came from the stubbornness of the eldest Holmes. 

Greg crept in after a moment. 

“You alright.” 

“Yeah I’m fine. Just letting myself take a second to cool down. A hot trigger finger isnever helpful.” He chuckled softly and nodded. 

“Guess you are right. What are you going to do to convince him to hand over the case?” I shrugged. 

“I don’t know. You see how long it took yourself and Sherlock to believe what I was saying. I don’t know if he ever will, even if we throw things right at him in the face.” I glanced back towards the living room with a small huff. “Are you sure I can’t punch him in the face?” It was almost an age old request at this point. Mycroft would irritate me enough to make me want to deck him with his bullheadedness. And hunters typically didn’t have great self-control when it came to other humans. Greg let out an overly exasperated sigh and grabbed me by the shoulders. 

“Yes.” He shook me a bit. “I have told you a hundred times over that you can’t get away with that.” 

“What if I just break his nose a little?” An eye roll from my brother. “I am sure it is something that Sherlock would appreciate. And what he is going to do? Have me arrested? He would be too embarrassed at having his nose broken by my tiny self to do a damn thing.” 

“It is still not allowed. Who knows what sort of punishment the man could set up? You really think that he would let you off without any sort of retaliation? Maybe it is your head that we need to get checked out this time.” I brushed his hands off of my shoulders and squared up a bit. 

“My head is perfectly fine thank you. Sometimes I think I am the only sane one left on the planet. And I can promise you I am much, much more sane than most other hunters out there. You have no idea what sort of off their rocker people you could be dealing with.” At that, we both looked towards the living room. “Alright so maybe you do but that isn’t the point. Even if he won’t give me this case, I can’t let something like this slide. I will look into it.” I ran a hand over my face. 

“And I just got Crowley out of here. Damn you and damn him. You owe me some pizza and a movie night for what I am going to have to do.”

“Does it have to be him?” 

“He’s the one running Hell and it seems like we have a demon problem on our hand. He is going to be our best bet at figuring something out quickly.” 

“Fine. Though maybe I will let you punch Mycroft if I can take a swing at the demon.” 

“You might just have yourself a deal Greg.”


End file.
